


So you want to be a Demonologist

by dementor_ssc



Series: Transcendence AU drabbles [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Demon Summoning, Gen, Kidnapping, Original Character(s), Students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6630457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dementor_ssc/pseuds/dementor_ssc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas didn't mind the bad rep that much. He called himself a weirdo with pride, damn it. And he was going to be the second best damn demonologist the world had ever seen.<br/>He would have endeavored to be the best, but everyone knew that title would probably go to Tyrone.</p>
<p>Alcor the Dreambender is pretending to be a demonology student. A Transcendence AU fanfic!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Pitt

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read!
> 
> Based on this idea (http://transcendence-au.tumblr.com/post/142543607023/dipper-as-a-demonology-student).

Thomas' decision to become an actual demonologist had raised a few eyebrows at home. Most people only took the intro class, just like most people only took the intro class in cryptozoology, and for the same reason.  Demonology 101 was mostly about topics like how to recognize the different types and classes of demons and what to do if you ever came across them. The advice ranged from "throw holy water" to "bargain for your life" and "run" (for some demons the advice was simply "don't bother running, you're dead anyway" and that was the least helpful advice ever). But it was a useful class, especially if you lived in the kind of city where cultists were a thing that happened and it wasn't unknown for people to just disappear.

Only a handful of people took the practical side of the demonology course. It was a bit of an iffy subject. Summoning demons was pretty much frowned upon, and no wonder.

That's exactly why they needed clever and young demonologists, Thomas reasoned. Like it or not, people still summoned demons, usually without any training or experience. This led to a lot of bloodshed and bad deals. Actual demonologists found employment as preternatural experts at the police station, or they could work as exorcists, or they could go into research - _any_ kind of research, since summoning demons for knowledge was a risky but valuable way to get answers quickly.

His parents had not been happy though. His arguments managed to sway them somewhat, but it had taken a huge row. He'd had to promise he would never join a cult and that he would never summon a demon unless it was strictly for work or class assignments. Whatever job he was going to get after his studies, it would be a risky one, and he had to promise to be extremely careful.

And he was! Really, he was. It's just... The classes had been a bit of a disappointment, really. A lot of math and measuring and technical drawings, and of course those ancient languages they suddenly had to be somewhat fluent in... Latin was easy compared to the Ancient Sumerian and Sanskrit some demons preferred. Professor Hicks wouldn't let them draw a symbol or word unless they could explain exactly what that symbol did and meant, both individually and in context.

You didn't need to know all that to summon a demon. Summoning was mostly about intent, everyone knew that. But it was a lot safer if you knew what you were doing. And Thomas got that, really, but professor Hicks took safety a bit too far in his opinion. Summoning demonstrations in class were rare and usually just sprites - not even a legion-class demon, you couldn't get more low-level than a sprite. Thomas could count the times Hicks had brought a _real_ demon into class - one capable of making deals - on one hand and he would still have fingers left over.

Okay, so maybe he hadn't picked this class for the job opportunities. Maybe he'd been sort of obsessed with stories about demons since he was a kid. So what? A lot of people were! At least he was smart enough to take a class instead of oh, joining a cult or something like that. And there were weirder things to be obsessed with.

Still, the demonology master class wasn't popular on campus. They were the weirdos, the wannabe-cultists, the oddballs of the university. Especially since the last few years, with all those cult-related kidnappings and murders suddenly on the rise again. There had even been a whole public outcry to completely scrap the demonology course from the curriculum, but thankfully Professor Hicks and Barnes - the heads of the department - had managed to convince the university board of the necessity of proper demonologists.

Thomas didn't mind the bad rep that much. He called himself a weirdo with pride, damn it. And he was going to be the second best damn demonologist the world had ever seen. 

He would have endeavored to be the best, but everyone knew that title would probably go to Tyrone.

In a class full of weirdos, Tyrone still managed to stand out. All his assignments were flawless. He drew the most complicated of binding circles without even double-checking the example in their course book. He appeared to be fluent in every language they came across, and their classes about contracts and negotiation skills usually ended with Tyrone, a huge grin on his face, explaining all the different loopholes in the apparently-not-so-airtight contract they had agreed upon. Once of twice professor Hicks had corrected him about something, only to apologize the next day when he had looked it up and discovered Tyrone had actually been right after all.

But hey, no wonder. Tyrone was studying like, _all the freaking time_. He didn't live on campus, that much did Thomas know, and aside from classes he barely spent any time on campus at all.

Maria still tried though. She said they had to stick together, the outcasts of the unversity, and Thomas agreed. And every once in a while Tyrone did show up to their little get-togethers and he was actually pretty chill to hang out with.

"- look and weep, boys."

Also, Maria was a total card shark and not someone you should play poker with. Thomas really should know better by now.

"I'm glad I folded," Tyrone said, pulling the bowl of gummy bears closer while Maria collected her winnings. "Do we have any Pitt Cola left?"

"I don't think so," Brad said. "Just New Pitt."

Tyrone frowned. " _New_ Pitt?"

"Yeah, didn't you hear? The commercials were all over the place. They're changing the recipe of Pitt Cola. It's now New Pitt. It's not too bad."

"What was wrong with the old recipe?"

"Dunno. They just wanted a change, I guess."

"Dude, you should see your face," Eduardo laughed. "You look like someone kicked your puppy or something."

"I think it's a stupid marketing ploy," Maria said. "Why change the recipe of a product that everyone knows and likes? They totally ruined it."

"Let's not be hasty," Thomas said. "It can't be that bad. And hey, we could always switch to Pittsy."

They all shuddered dramatically.

"Ugh, Pittsy," Maria said. "I'll pass, thanks."

Brad rolled his eyes. "Whose turn is it to deal the cards? Get on with it, I need to recoup my losses today."

"It's your turn, dude."

"One moment," Tyrone said, and stood up. "I'll give the New Pitt a try. They're in the fridge?"

"Yup. Bring one for me too?"

"Me three."

"Me four," Thomas said.

Maria made a face. "Ugh, no thanks. I'd rather have a beer."

"Oh, if you're going to the kitchen anyway can you bring the bucket of popcorn? It's on top of the fridge."

"How many arms do you think I have?" Tyrone complained, but he managed to carry the four cans of New Pitt, the beer and the popcorn to the table without spilling anything.

"Great, popcorn," Eduardo said. He claimed the bucket. "Next time we need more snacks, dude. Especially if Tyrone is coming."

"Hey, nobody was eating those gummies before I got here."

"Don't worry, Eddy, I have more," Thomas said. "I'll probably have to live off ramen noodles if you guys come over too often, but my snack drawer is well stocked right now."

"Not for much longer," Maria grinned. She opened her beer. "Well guys, are we playing cards or not?"

"Haven't you fleeced us enough?"

Brad dealt the cards. Eduardo smiled at his hand - Maria's face was unreadable when she played poker - and huh, Tyrone was frowning. He usually had a better poker face.

He wasn't frowning at his cards, Thomas noticed, but at the can of New Pitt in his hands.

"This is una͏cc̛e̢ṕtab̧ļe̕," he said.

Thomas wiggled a finger in his ear - Tyrone's voice seemed to have a bit of an odd reverb for a moment.

"Hey, I can raise if I want to -"

"Not that," Tyrone said. "This! This - _mockery_ of Pitt Cola! It tastes competely different and just - yergh."

"Oh goody," Brad sighed. "Another 'Bring back the Pitt' fan."

"I know, right!" Maria said. "It's awful! I grew up with Pitt Cola, it's a classic, they shouldn't be allowed to just - _change_ everything! We should do something about it."

"Like what?" Eduardo asked. "Those companies can do whatever they want, man. It's just the way things are."

"We could make a petition?" Thomas said. He didn't care so much about the whole New Pitt thing - to be honest he rather liked the new taste - but hey, if Maria and Tyrone cared so much... A petition probably wouldn't help much, but he felt the need to suggest it before they came up with a worse idea, like -

"Are we demonologists or not?" Maria said. "Let's summon a demon and make a deal to bring back Pitt Cola like it should be."

A moment of silence.

"That is the absolute **_worst_** idea I have heard today, and earlier this evening Brad suggested we play _strip poker_ ," Thomas deadpanned. "Absolutely not."

"Don't be a wuss. You're always complaining about how we don't get to see any 'real' demons in class."

"In _class_! Where Hicks is the one who would get eaten first if anything should go wrong, giving us enough time to run!"

"A real hero, you are," Brad sniggered.

Thomas turned to him. "You can't seriously agree with this?"

"I'm not saying I agree. But it doesn't have to be too risky, that all depends on which demon we summon. I think this can be handled by a relatively low-level one, right?"

"Alcor," Tyrone said. "You're going to summon Alcor."

Another silence.

"Sure," Thomas said, injecting as much sarcasm as humanly possible into his voice. "Let's just forget everything about safe summoning and pick the most powerful demon we can think of, the only one who has a reputation of being _completely impossible_ to bind. Alcor the Dreambender. Sure. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to _die_ for some stupid _soda_ , Tyrone!"

"Alcor might not be such a bad idea," Maria said. "Think about it. They say he's usually lenient for amateur summoners and hardly ever kills them."

"Usually," Thomas stressed.

"We're not exactly _amateurs_ ," Eduardo said. Thomas rolled his eyes. Yes, Eddy, **_that_** was the important part of that sentence.

"Trust me, Alcor is the one you want for this," Tyrone said. "You need to think of a proper deal, though. What exactly you want him to do, and what exactly you'll offer in return. I'll look it over to check the wording and I can show you the proper summoning circle."

"What's with all the 'you'? Don't you mean 'we'?" Maria said. "You're the best in class, I kinda expected you to do the summoning. Won't you?"

"Yeah, I can't. I, uh, need to work. Evening shift."

"Fine, then we'll do it tomorrow instead of today."

"I'll have to work tomorrow too."

Thomas looked at Tyrone's shifty eyes and frowned. "You don't want to be here when we summon him," he said. "Seriously? This was _your_ idea, Tyrone."

Damn it, he said 'we'. His parents were going to kill him if they found out about this. Summoning a demon - not just any demon, _Alcor the freaking Dreambender himself_ \- just to change a stupid soda recipe... Yeah, he was doomed.

But he couldn't let Maria and the others do this on their own. Friends didn't let friends summon powerful demons without backup, right?

Aaaaaand that was probably how cults got started. Great.

"Sorry," Tyrone said. "I just can't be here, alright. It's complicated."

"Does this have anything to do with the eye on your forehead?" Eduardo asked.

Thomas frowned. "What eye?"

Tyrone looked guilty. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Eddy, so let's just -"

"It's okay dude," Eduardo said. "I uh, kind of have the Sight? Not always. It's a bit weak and intermittent, not really dependable. But sometimes I see, well, a golden eye on your forehead. The mark of Alcor. I'm guessing you met him once?"

Tyrone was silent for a few long heartbeats.

"Sort of," he admitted. "Just- I don't want to talk about it. Sorry. But suffice to say that _yes_ , that's the mark of Alcor, I'm a hundred percent certain he is the demon you guys need to summon for this, and I really can't be the one to offer this deal. It'll go much easier if there's no Tyrone present, I promise."

"Why? Is he mad at you?" Brad's eyes went wide. "Dude, is this why you seem to know _everything_ in class? You made some kind of deal for knowledge with Alcor! And in return, what? You're not allowed to summon him again?"

The look on Tyrone's face was utter bafflement. "Uh, wow," he said, eventually. "I did not expect anyone to... guess it. That is exactly what happened. Sort of. You really just... figured it out like that, amazing. So uh, you understand I can't really help with this aside from the preparations."

"For the record, Tyrone?" Thomas poked Tyrone's forehead. "This counts as cheating. If professor Hicks found out you'll be thrown out of university so quickly your head will spin."

"I'm not sure about that," Maria said. "How many people have summoned Alcor for knowledge and actually gotten what they ask for? That's still impressive. You probably would be excluded for the theoretical portion of the exam though."

"Hey, not fair. I still need to study. I know _lots of things_ , not _everything_."

"Whatever you say man. Still cheating. So, you gonna draw us the summoning circle or do we need to get the books?"

* * *

 

Tyrone had left an hour ago. Brad lead the summoning, since Maria was three beers in and she was too buzzed to be trusted to keep to the wording they had all approved.

Thomas kept to the side of the room and tried to be as inconspicious as possible. They were doing this. Oh stars, they were actually doing this.

The sacrifice was, oddly enough, a bag of gummy worms Thomas' grandma had send him. He'd been keeping those around for when Tyrone visited because the guy was crazy for that kind of chewy candy, but Tyrone had said they would be ideal for this summoning.

"Just keep them outside the circle, or they'll burn," he had advised before leaving. "Activate the circle with a few drops of blood, offer the gummies to Alcor so he'll stick around to make the deal, and just follow the script."

Apparently Alcor could be bribed with sweets. Thomas had read about it on the internet, but he'd never really believed it. Even the little sprites Hick's summoned in class took their payment in drops of blood or pieces of meat... But hey, Tyrone had summoned Alcor before, right? He'd know.

The summoning itself was almost surreal. At first he thought they had reached Alcor's infamous answering machine, but then the cartoonish yellow star opened an eye and spoke to them.

"W̠̺H̗̝̤̻͎̼͠O̡͚͇ ̞̙̺̜̯̙ͅD̴̩A̡͓R͇͘E̷̦̹͓͍̺ͅS ͓͔̝͕͘S͠U͘M̷̺̹͚͕̖̠M͖̟͔O̲̠̬̲͘N̷̹ ͍́A̶̤͈̬̪̙LC͏̹̺O̱̼̯͍̲R̥͟ͅ ̛̟̬T͓̟͍HE͓̟͎̬ ̧̞͖̰͍̜D͕͇͚̥̞̪͟RE̬̹͎AM̮̕B͚E̢̤͔̜͚̭̫ŅD͇̝͓͈E̖͈R͓̺̞͈͇̖͘?"

Brad took his cue and started with the script. And the odd thing was, Alcor reacted _exactly_ in the way Tyrone had predicted. He accepted the gummy worms - they disappeared in a flare of blue flames - and before Thomas knew it, the deal was being sealed.

The whole contents of Thomas' well-stocked snack drawer in return for Alcor visiting the dreams of the Pitt Cola board of directors and convincing them to return Pitt Cola to its original recipe, _without_ permanently scarring them, hurting their physical bodies, or harming their souls.

Thomas prayed they didn't forget some kind of loophole. Maybe they'd turn on the news tomorrow and saw the board of directors were brutally murdered and there would be a whole investigation and they would go to jail or worse and they would have totally deserved that -

"R̰̤͓͈̫̦̩e̹͈͡ḷ̬̰̟̦̙̯͠a̟͓̭͎̝x̯̼̥̞͍," Alcor said, for the first time deviating from the script they had put together with Tyrone's help. Thomas swallowed. Alcor's eye was fixed on him. It was so _weird_ , that object shape, it looked so harmless and cartoonish and silly but this was _Alcor the Dreambender_ and he could crush Thomas without even lifting a finger this was such a bad idea -

"Ț̶̞̬͎h̬͕̹̹̹i̼̺̮͚ͅs̫͖͖̙̭̼̬̕ ̞w̩a͡ş͍̣ ̗̲̖a̱̲̲̮̗ ͖̪̘̟̜̹̪w̬̪̥͍e̘̠̩̖̕l̘͉̕l̳-̨̪̺͔̙t̰̠̤̖h̷̰̰̩̘ͅo͈̳̙u͘g̫̟̬̗ͅh̩͖̤͓̝t̯̮̦͓ ̫ó͈̩̼͉u̩͈̹t̞̼ͅ ͔͙̕d͞ͅe͏̗ͅạl̹̟̲̞̳̞.̹͙̫̭̘͓ ̳K̴̰͈̗̖u͚͚͞ḏo̯̼̤̗̻͔s͕̥̖͟ ͖t̷̲̗͓o̘̜̳͚̫͙͟ ̗̗͎̲̙̝ͅa̵͓͙̞̘̝̗l̗͕̗͠l̟̳̥̭͎̳̀ͅ ̢͍̞͙̝̼o̶̰͍̖̞̺̼f͇͎͔ ̜̰̘̪̬̗̹͟y̡͉̦̗͕̤̗͎o̯̙͚̙̖̬u̶̹̠̠̙͉̻.̵͈̦͕̘͕̫ͅ ̰͍̬̱͉̖S̷̬̪͍̞ay̷͍̹̻̤̻͔ h̪̠̪͇i ̢̘͔̞͖̣̰t̨͎o̗͇̰̣͘ ̺͚̣T̝̰͕͔̬̳͘y̠͕͢r̪̞̥̼̩o̪̙̣̱̣̣̤n͉͙̦ȩ̯͇̖̹ ̨̮̖͈̞f̖̣̗̜͎o̡͍̗̰̭̼ŕ̲̟͓̰̩ ̯̝͍̗ͅm̤̥̣̰͕̺e̺͇͓̲̹!"

The glowing yellow star tipped his hat and faded in a puff of smoke. The candles - unscented, Tyrone had insisted - guttered out.

"Dude," Eduardo said. "That was amazing!"

"And weird," Thomas said. "Very weird. Do you think he... _knew_ about the script? Because he said exactly what Tyrone predicted he would say."

"Maybe," Brad shrugged. "He is known for being semi-omniscient."

"He is also known for messing around with his summoners," Maria said. "Playing little pranks on them, to put them off-center. He didn't do that. He must have liked us."

"I didn't expect his object form," Thomas said. "Seriously, that was enough of a prank. According to the books he almost never appears like that."

Brad sniggered. "I can see why, it's not exactly impressive is it? Looks like a two-dimensional toy."

"That 'toy' regularly slaughters entire cults and eats their souls," Thomas said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

They looked at eachother, adrenaline and pride mingling in a heady mix. Okay, and also a bit of belated terror. They had summoned an actual demon! Finally! And it had gone without a hitch!

"We're real demonologists now," Maria said, and whooped. "Go us!"

"I'm going to call Tyrone," Eduardo said. "Tell him the good news. We brought back Pitt Cola, guys!"

Thomas smiled and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. Please, please don't let someone get hurt... They just let Alcor the Dreambender loose on unsuspecting businessmen. This could end very, very badly.

* * *

 

There were no bloodbaths on the newsfeed. There was, however, a press release from Pitt Cola, declaring they would be bringing back 'Pitt Original' soon.

"We learned our lesson," their spokesman said. "Pitt Cola is a beloved staple of many people's childhoods and we would never take it away."

Well. At least they hadn't killed anyone. The news would have started with something like that, right? Thomas could breathe a bit easier. It was over, it was done, they had actually done it!

"Good job guys," Tyrone said. "Can you hand me the popcorn?"

"Leave some for the rest of us, dude," Eduardo said, dealing the cards again.

"Yeah, my stash of snacks is depleted thanks to this Pitt Cola deal," Thomas complained. "From now on you can all bring your own grub."

"But I'm a poor college student!"

"We're _all_ poor college students."

"Fair enough... But hey. We _did_ summon a demon."

"Yeah," Thomas smiled. "And nobody got killed. Isn't that nice."


	2. A Sunny Day In November

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas frowned. Now he was paying attention, he noticed how tired Tyrone looked. Had he been ill? He had been absent for the entire past week, maybe he'd had the flu or something. "How are you by the way? You've been missing a lot of classes lately."  
> "It's been a... difficult week at work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not betaread. I couldn't figure out a good chapter title so I just picked one at random. 
> 
> Yes, there will be more chapters of this thing :)

The Mangy Dog wasn't the most popular bar near the university campus. It wasn't even in the top twenty. But it was in walking distance of the building where the demonology classes were held, and they had a decent selection of fried snacks.

Two television screens hung on the walls, a third above the bar itself. They showed clips of music videos interspersed with commercials. The music droning from the speakers didn't match at all with the view from the screens.

The couple of tables closest to the windows were occupied by a group of students playing boardgames. Every once in a while they would erupt in noise and laughter. At another table a few students from the Cryptozoology major were comparing pictures they'd snapped on some field trip.

Fifty percent of the whole Demonology graduating class was sitting at the corner table. All five of them.

At the start of their college education there'd been about thirty of them who picked the Demonology major. And all but ten of them had dropped out before reaching year four or... well, considering what their major _was_ , accidents were bound to happen. They were supposed to leave the actual summoning for the second term of their fourth and final year, but some people got impatient or reckless and tried it anyway. Idiots.

Heh. Thomas supposed he should count himself as one of those idiots now, after that whole Pitt Cola thing. They'd been damn lucky to survive that summoning unscathed. Their first summons ever, and they'd started with _Alcor the freaking Dreambender_... The same demon who decimated an entire cult last week, it was still all over the news.

He sipped his beer and tried not to think too much about it. The others didn't seem too bothered by their close shave with bloody demon-related death...

"No way dude. I once ate a whole family sized bucket of hotwings. On. My. Own."

"That _is_ something to be proud of," Maria said, an amused glint in her eyes. "But I still bet I can eat more hot dogs than you can."

"Don't be too sure," Eduardo bragged. "I love sausages."

He was a second slower than the others to realize what he implied. They all sniggered while Eduardo blushed.

"We know, dude," Brad said. "And you can have all the sausages you want. We don't judge."

"Yeah, laugh it up, why won't you," Eduardo muttered. "How old are you guys again? Twelve?"

"Hey, don't blame us, you're the one with all the innuendo," Maria said.

"That barely counts as innuendo."

"After a few beers, everything counts," Maria decided.

"Barely," Brad repeated with a grin. "Get it? _Bare_ ly."

Thomas rolled his eyes. Brad had had a few beers too many. Best to switch him over to soda when he wasn't paying attention, before they had a repeat of That One Night With The Fish.

"Too bad they don't have hot dogs on the menu," Eduardo said. "Or I would prove it."

"I think Tyrone could beat you both," Thomas said.

Tyrone looked up from his plate. "Did I hear my name?"

They'd dragged Tyrone to the Mangy Dog with the promise of fried food and since stepping through the door he'd munched his way through three plates of onion rings, one extra-large side of eggrolls and four plates of fries. It was a miracle he hadn't exploded yet.

"Where do you put it all?" Maria asked. "You're skinny as a rake!"

"Fast metabolism," Tyrone said, dipping his lips rather delicately with his napkin. There was still a bit of mayonnaise near his left earlobe. For all his nitpicking when it came to class assignments he was one hell of a messy eater.

Thomas frowned. Now he was paying attention, he noticed how tired Tyrone looked. Had he been ill? He had been absent for the entire past week, maybe he'd had the flu or something. "How are you by the way? You've been missing a lot of classes lately."

"It's been a... difficult week at work." Tyrone avoided his eyes. What kind of work did he even do? He was always so vague about it.

"Like you even need to go to class," Brad said. "You already know everything anyway! Dude, you've _got_ to share your secret. I'm going to fail Runecrafting without some kind of miracle. How did you make that deal with Alcor? Tell us more, man."

"Er... I don't really -"                                                           

"What did you even offer in return? I don't think candy is going to cut it, in exchange for all that knowledge. You're not in some kind of cult are you?"

"Brad, shut up," Maria said. "Can't you see Tyrone doesn't want to talk about it?"

"Huh. Maybe that was part of the deal? I got it - you managed to _bind_ Alcor! I'm right, aren't I?" Brad pointed an accusing finger at Tyrone. "You trapped him - how? With his true name perhaps? - and he made you promise never to summon him again or share how you did it!"

"I really can't talk about this," Tyrone said. He pushed his chair away from the table and got up. "See you guys in class. I'm tired."

With those words he left.

Maria smacked Brad. "You asshat!"

"What?" Brad said. "I bet I'm right."

"You upset him."

"He has no reason to be upset."

"Dude, you were way too pushy," Eduardo said. "Look, he even left some fries on his plate. And he didn't pay his bill."

"Brad can pay it," Maria decided.

"What? But -"

"You're the one with the rich parents and you're the one who chased Tyrone away, consider this your penance."

Thomas stood up. "Maybe he's still outside. I'll be right back."

* * *

 

It was nice out, for november. The sky was blue and cloudless and the bright sunlight reflected on the rain puddles left in the streets. The fountain with the puzzling sculpture of a beardless gnome riding a dog was awash in rainbows.

Tyrone was sitting on the edge of the fountain, his head tilted back and his eyes closed, apparently trying to soak up some sunlight.

He looked so tired.

Thomas cleared his throat so he wouldn't startle Tyrone too much and went to sit down next to him.

"So... you want to talk about it?" he offered. "You're usually more tolerant of Brad being an ass. He apologizes, by the way." Well, he would eventually, after Maria was done with him.

Tyrone shrugged without opening his eyes. "He doesn't need to. He has questions, he can ask them. I just won't answer any."

"You seemed upset," Thomas said. Okay, so he wasn't exactly close to Tyrone, but who was? If the guy needed someone to vent, Thomas didn't mind listening.

"I'm just a bit on edge lately. Sorry."

"Tough week at work?"

"Yeah. You could say that." Tyrone opened his eyes to stare at his hands. "You know, I'm thinking about quitting."

"Your job?"

"These studies. Brad was right about one thing, I already know all of it."

Thomas frowned. "But you're almost finished! We have only seven more months to go. It's ridiculous to study something for three years and then quit so close to the finish line. Besides, knowledge is great and all, but no one is going to hire you if you don't have that little paper as proof. And what about the whole practical side of summoning, we're only starting that part next term. You can still use some practice, I'm sure."

Tyrone smiled faintly. "I'm not worried about landing a job. To be honest, I started these studies on a dare. Then I decided, what the heck, might as well keep going and give the whole college experience a try."

"Oh," Thomas said. "Okay. Must be nice. No pressure, right?"

"Yeah." Tyrone sighed and trailed one hand in the greenish water of the fountain. "I don't know. I do have fun in class. Maybe you're right, I should just finish what I started."

"Next term is going to be the best one yet," Thomas said. "Real summonings! In class and completely supervised of course, but _finally!_ Speaking of, how far along are you with the big summoning circle assignment?"

At the beginning of the term they had each had to pick a demon from a list of acceptable summons. Then the work began: they had to devise a summoning and binding circle capable of holding that demon with the absolute minimum of blood sacrifice.

("Dealing with demons can get messy," professor Hicks had said. "If you need to slaughter and drain a cow everytime you want to do something, you'll have to eat way too much beef! Just my little joke. Demons don't leave any beef behind. Nevertheless, blood sacrifices are expensive.")

"I haven't really started yet," Tyrone said.

Okay. Whew. That wasn't good. Thomas had been working on his assignment for the past two months and it wasn't even close to finished. This wasn't something you could just whip up during an all-nighter or two.

"Do you need any help?" Thomas offered.

"Nah, I'm good. There is still time. But you're right, next term is something to look forward to." Tyrone smiled. "Wouldn't want to miss it."

Thomas returned his smile. "I'm glad to hear it. You're a cool guy to hang out with, it would be a shame if you just left."

Tyrone laughed. "Thanks. And if you want help with your assignment, I'm easily bribed with gummies."

"Good to know. I might take you up on that offer. But perhaps you should focus on your own assignment first."

An amiable silence stretched between them.

"This was a good talk," Tyrone said. "Thanks, Thomas. I should probably apologize to the others for storming out like that, right?"

Thomas shrugged. "They'll live. You coming back?"

"Nah. I really should go home. Get some work done on that assignment you reminded me of. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, Tyrone. Oh, and before I forget - you uh, have some mayonnaise." Thomas gestured to his ear. "Right there."


	3. About Demons And Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Thomas looked for the right page, Eduardo was staring at his calculations. "How much blood is too much blood?"  
> "I suddenly understand why we don't have any friends outside the Demonology department," Thomas said. "Taken out of context that's a very creepy question."
> 
> The demonology gang is working on their assignments. Just a little slice of life here...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Circle of the Dreamers' Star is mentioned, you might know them from TerrifyingTyrannosaurusTurtle (http://archiveofourown.org/works/6533737)

They'd holed up in Brad's apartment since he had the largest table. The large table was necessary - books and notes were spread over the entire surface.

"So, if I put this one squiggle here, does that collapse the whole rune array?" Maria tapped the page. "Because I think I need this squiggle to balance that one, but they're both edge runes so..."

Thomas took his eyes of his own attempt at the binding circle and glanced at Maria's. "Which 'squiggle' do you mean exactly? Sokkvabekkr or Gladsheimr? And I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to combine those two."

"Damn it."

Thomas frowned. "Are you only using runes, by the way?"

"My demon is very Old Norse-themed, so I thought it would be best."

"Sounds like you're making it difficult for yourself. Let's see..." He took one of his course books and leafed through the pages. "Right, here it is. I think this combination could maybe stabilize your binding instead of Sokkvabekkr."

Maria sighed at the page. "Yeah, I suppose I could try that. Would be a lot easier if we could just use a blood sacrifice," she complained. "I'm prepared to offer, like, a pint or three of my blood if it meant I wouldn't fail this stupid assignment. How much blood do you need to live anyway?"

"Need any help?" Tyrone asked, from the couch where he and Brad were playing Amazing Luigi Party Bros.

"Always," Maria said. She poked Eduardo, who was resting his head on his arms and groaning. "Are you okay Eddy?"

"Just let me die in peace," Eduardo said, his voice muffled by his arms. "I'll never get this done. Why did I pick the Organ Duck? Why? Someone travel back in time and stop me, please."

"Yeah, good luck summoning the Organ Duck with the 'absolute minimum of blood sacrifice'," Brad laughed. On the screen his cart crashed against a wall, and he swore. "Damn it, I always forget how sharp that turn is."

"I'm way ahead of you anyway," Tyrone grinned. "Finish line, here I come!"

"It's a bit unfair to put the Organ Duck on the list, really," Thomas said. "He's more high-level than the others, isn't he?"

"But he's not really known for murdering his summoners, so Hicks still considers him a 'safe' summons for newbies like us," Maria said. "He could have put Alcor on the list too."

"How about _no_ ," Thomas said. "Remember that cult a few weeks ago?"

"To be fair, that cult had just sacrificed a little girl," Tyrone said.

"Really? I don't recall they mentioned that in the news."

"Oh, they definitely did. She was eight. Little pigtails and everything." Tyrone's cart went off-road in the game and crashed against a tree. He stared at the controller in his hands. "Just a little girl."

"Everyone knows Alcor doesn't condone human sacrifice," Maria said. "They were idiots."

"For a demon who is so set against human sacrifice he has one hell of a kill count," Thomas said. "And that's in his 'good' periods. You know he has some kind of weird cyclic existence, right?"

"Dude, I read about that!" Eduardo said. "Isn't that one of the core beliefs of the Circle of the Dreamers' Star? Like, Alcor the Star who sometimes makes deals without screwing you over and who likes kids _not_ as food,  and then you have Alcor the Beast who doesn't, and every once in a while he just flips out and goes on a killing spree for a century or so?"

"He must be having a good run right now," Maria said. "He made a fair deal with us."

"Maybe that was the last fair deal he made before 'flipping out' at those cultists," Thomas said darkly. "I don't know. We took a huge risk with that summons."

"He brought back Pitt Cola," Maria said. She took a demonstrative gulp from her can. "So he can't be all bad."

"No one knows what sets off those bad periods," Thomas said. "Lots of theories, but no one has managed to correctly predict them. It could happen any time."

"Maybe he's just PMSing." Brad shrugged. "Who knows how demon biology works."

Tyrone dropped the game controller. " _Excuse me?_ "

"I take offence at this," Maria said. "That's such a _guy thing_ to say. 'Oh, she has a bad mood, must be PMSing'. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?"

"She," Thomas stressed. "Alcor is not a _she_."

"Who knows?" Eduardo said. "Demons can shapeshift."

"Are you okay Tyrone? You look a bit..." Thomas waggled his fingers at Tyrone, not sure how to describe that peculiar expression on his face. Something between hilarity, mortification and guilt?

"Oh, sorry," Brad said. "You don't like it when we talk about Alcor, I forgot."

"It's fine," Tyrone said. "Your theories are... interesting."

"All these crazy theories aren't helping me with my assignment," Maria said. "I'm going back to work. Thomas, can you show me that other rune combination again? I lost track of the page..."

While Thomas looked for the right page, Eduardo was staring at his calculations. "How much blood is too much blood?"

"I suddenly understand why we don't have any friends outside the Demonology department," Thomas said. "Taken out of context that's a very creepy question."

"Even in context it's creepy," Brad said. He put down his controller. "How about ordering pizza? I'm feeling like pizza."

"I feel like pizza," Tyrone said.

"How _does_ pizza feel anyway?" Eduardo said with a philosophical air. "Sad? Anxious? With little fingers made of cheese string?"

"Pizza sounds good," Maria decided. "Are we using Pizza Shack?"

"Pizza Shack: it's Pizzalicious!" Eduardo said.

"I love the one with the cheese crust," Maria said. "Seriously, if I were a demon I could totally be summoned with cheese crust pizza."

"If you were a demon I would be _very_ afraid," Brad said.

"You should be," Maria grinned, and threw a pen at his head. Brad ducked.

"I think we all know who would be the most terrifying demon of us all," Brad said.

"Maria," Eduardo said.

"Obviously Maria," Thomas agreed.

Tyrone just laughed.

Brad shook his head. "No guys, _Thomas_! Look at him." He gestured to Thomas. "In scary movies it's alway the silent loner-type who turns out to be the serial killer."

"Or the love interest," Eduardo said. "Bit of a toss-up, really."

"What about Tyrone?" Thomas sputtered. "He's silent too."

Brad laughed. "He's too much of a dork. No offence, Tyrone."

"None taken." If Tyrone's grin was any larger it would split his face. "So. How about that pizza?"


	4. Selling Your Soul (Is Against University Regulations)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At first sight Tyrone Evergreen seemed ordinary. Brown hair, brown eyes. Always dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks - maybe a bit more formal than most students, but not that much from the norm. Student fashion was mind-boggling and inexplicable and Hicks had given up on trying to understand it after that whole trend of wearing neon-coloured rubber boots had infected the campus.  
> Evergreen seemed ordinary, Hicks thought, while looking at the boy sitting at the other side of his desk. But there was something... off about him. An intensity in his gaze, perhaps. It was difficult to put into words, but while Hicks was staring at the boy he got the niggling feeling of something vast and ancient staring back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a thousand things to do. Instead I write.
> 
> Thank you all for your comments and kudos! You guys keep me going :)

Tyrone Evergreen was the most promising student professor Hicks had ever seen.

To be fair, he hadn't been teaching that long. But he doubted he would ever come across another student like Evergreen. A near instinctive grasp of contract negotiation, a keen eye to spot loopholes, a steady hand to draw the most complex of sigils, and of course that mind that seemed to know every single little detail about anything demon-related. It was uncanny how much he knew.

Hicks worried about him. He had his doubts for a while now, and after what Miss Adams just told him...

"Are you certain?" he asked.

Elisabeth Adams sat primly on the chair, her lips pursed in disapproval. "I believe my sources."

"Your sources, who consist of - and I quote - 'a friend in a bar'."

"With all due respect, professor, does it matter who I heard this from? It doesn't change the truth. There is obviously something unnatural about Evergreen."

This could just be gossip of course. He knew how competitive some of his students were. Miss Adams was very vocal about her attempts to get to the top and maybe she _would_ be willing to get her fellow student expelled.

But still... it would explain so much. He couldn't just ignore this. It was his duty to confront Evergreen and get to the bottom of this.

"This is a serious accusation," he reminded her. "If it happens to be untrue, it could still have long-reaching effects on his reputation and future." The university was harsh on anything that resembled cheating. They also disapproved of students summoning demons outside of the allotted classes, for obvious reasons. Parents tended to blame the university if their son came home in a matchbox.

The glint in her eyes prompted him to add a stern: "I need your word you will let me handle it and you won't spread these rumors any further. From now on everything will go through the official university channels. I will speak with Mr Evergreen and if I find these accusations to be baseless, I don't want to hear any more of this."

"Of course, professor," Adams said.

He was not convinced of her sincerity, but this was the best he could do. He dismissed Miss Adams and tapped his fingers on his desk, already planning how to approach Evergreen. If the boy had made some kind of deal to gain his knowledge... It made so much sense, it really did. Hicks shivered. Such a deal would not have been cheap.

He hoped he could help Evergreen out of this mess before the demon came to collect.

If it wasn't too late already.

* * *

 

At first sight Tyrone Evergreen seemed ordinary. Brown hair, brown eyes. Always dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks - maybe a bit more formal than most students, but not that much from the norm. Student fashion was mind-boggling and inexplicable and Hicks had given up on trying to understand it after that whole trend of wearing neon-coloured rubber boots had infected the campus.

Evergreen _seemed_ ordinary, Hicks thought, while looking at the boy sitting at the other side of his desk. But there was something... _off_ about him. An intensity in his gaze, perhaps. It was difficult to put into words, but while Hicks was staring at the boy he got the niggling feeling of something vast and ancient staring back.

Who knows what the price had been of that deal? Maybe it included unrestricted access to the boy's mind - the Dreambender could be looking through those brown eyes at this very minute.

He shook himself. Focus, he needed to focus. He wasn't even certain there had _been_ a deal. It could be slander. _Please_ let it be mere slander.

"You are probably wondering why I called you to my office," he said, and decided not to beat around the bush: "Mr Evergreen - do you mind if I call you Tyrone? - I wish to speak to you about some troubling rumors I have heard concerning you and a certain demon deal."

Evergreen laughed nervously. "What? Pfft! I'm sorry sir, I don't know what you're talking about."

"More specifically," Hicks went on, "someone claims you made a deal with Alcor the Dreambender in order to gain the elaborate knowledge about demons you display during class. Is there any truth in this, Tyrone? _Please_ be honest. If you are in trouble I can perhaps help - I am an experienced demonologist and as I told in class, one of our jobs is to alleviate bad deals. So answer me this truthfully: does your knowledge originate from Alcor?"

Evergreen's face was suddenly unreadable, his shoulders tense. He was obviously trying to keep his expressions from showing. At times like this Hicks wished he had the Sight, so he could at least get an inkling about the boy's state of mind right now.

"I expect an answer, Tyrone," Hicks said. "I won't deny you are in trouble. Your lack of protest is enough to tell me those rumors have at least some truth to them. Just... tell me how bad it is. You might still get expelled but perhaps we can at least save you from whatever demonic price you have to pay."

A long silence. Then, finally, Tyrone spoke.

"... yes," he said, slowly. "The answer to your question is yes. My knowledge does originate from Alcor."

Although he had expected this, Hicks still felt a lead weight sink in his stomach at hearing it confirmed. He let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding and asked: "What did you give him in return?"

Tyrone was very conspiciously avoiding his eyes. "Oh," he said. "Um, well, you know... Let me think, it's been a while ago you know..."

"You're avoiding the question again," Hicks said. "Tyrone, you need to be honest with me. I know how extensive your knowledge is. Some of the things in your class assignments can only be found in the most obscure books - I had to look things up in the _Pines Library_. Just so I could grade your essays fairly. Whatever your deal was, the Dreambender clearly came through on his side. Demons don't give freebies. Now, there are only a few things I can think of that a demon would ask for in return for something big like this, and they are all nasty."

 Tyrone was still silent. Damn it all. Hicks took a deep breath and went for the worst case scenario.

"Does Alcor own your soul?" he asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible.

Evergreen's deer-in-headlight look said it all.

Hicks sighed and pinched his nosebridge. "I expected as much. This is bad,Tyrone. Very bad - as I'm sure you know. The Dreambender can devour your soul at any moment he desires. Or he can possess your body and do whatever he wants with it. Selling your soul is grounds for immediate expulsion, you understand? You're basically a ticking timebomb and the University cannot be held responsible if Alcor decides to possess you and go on a killing spree on campus."

Evergreen glanced away, a sudden stubborn expression on his face. "He wouldn't," he said. "He's having  a good run."

"Demons are unpredictable and Alcor doubly so," Hicks said. Evergreen didn't have a clue, did he?  How to fix this? His vague plan of summoning the Dreambender and offering another deal to help Evergreen out of this mess got suddenly a lot more complicated.

Take away the bought knowledge in return for Evergreen's soul, unharmed and unclaimed... The odds were not in the boy's favor. Souls were too valuable - _nothing_ could persuade a demon to give one back to its original owner. The only bright side was that Alcor had apparently not yet consumed the soul, or Evergreen wouldn't be sitting here.

"I am sorry, Tyrone," Hicks said. "But I'll have to contact the University Board about this. I really wish there was another way but I doubt you'll be allowed to finish your schooling at this institution."

"Oh," Evergreen said. "Okay. Can't we, you know," he licked his lips nervously, "cut a d͇͓͕̯̬̼e̫̦̫̰͢a̠̮̩͚̜͘l̲̠ or something?"

His eyes met Hicks's and they were the eyes of a demon, burning gold on black. Hicks stiffened.

_Alcor was possessing the boy **right now**._

This was a professional demonologist's worst nightmare. He prepared _months_ for a summoning - sometimes even longer. Double- and triple-checking every symbol, layering the binding circles, hammering out the perfect wording and making sure there were no loopholes...

Now Alcor the Dreambender was sitting in front of his desk, dressed in an Evergreen meat suit, waiting for Hicks to say something. There were no binding circles in his office - not that they would do any good, this was _Alcor_ for crying out loud. There was no carefully worded script he could follow. He was completely and utterly unprepared for this.

Forget saving Evergreen's soul, he should be worried about his own!

"Great and Powerful Dreambender," he said slowly, trying to buy time to _think_. "To what do I owe this honour of your visit?"

The principal rules of a succesful summoning were drilled into his head. _Prepare thoroughly_ was a lost cause of course.

 _Don't show your desperation or too much fear_. Some fear was fine - it stroked the demon's ego. But show too much and they would exploit it, play it against you.

Only a huge effort of will kept Hicks's hands from shaking too noticably.

"L̡et's c̷u͘t to͡ t͢ḩè ̀c͘h͟a͞sȩ," Alcor said, demonic reverb twisting Evergreen's voice, before it insidiously became human-like again, only distorted by an almost unnoticable buzz. "I like Tyrone. I want him to reach his graduation without any interference from you or other official channels."

_Pay attention to the wording of everything that is said._

"Are you planning to do something to him, on or after his graduation?" Hicks asked carefully. "Or to someone else?" He could imagine it - a possessed Evergreen gleefully cackling while raining blue fire down on the screaming masses gathered for the graduation ceremony...

"That's a vague question," Alcor said. "You're not getting an answer without a deal, my friend. Ǹi͞c̛e̛ ͡tr͠y t̡ḩou̷gh! But hey, don't worry - I'm not planning anything nefarious for graduation day, or for Tyrone. As I said, I͓̥̩̥̦ ̭̦̫l̠̳̩̝̪i͍̲͠ḳ̴̲͎̦̺͓̫e̷̖̰̯̟̗ ̰̫̗̫t̨͍̻̩he͈͖͎͚ͅ ̧͔ki͉̕d̥̟͔̞̮̥͈."

Alcor was known for having a soft spot for kids - at least sometimes, during his good periods. Could Evergreen be one of those children who were taken from sacrificial circles and brought to a safe home, forever indebted to the demon who saved them?

But Alcor owned Evergreen's soul. He was possessing the boy - something he must have done more often, since Evergreen hadn't even batted an eyelash at the demonic intrusion into his body.

Damn it all, he had to do _something_ to help him. Hicks couldn't just abandon the boy to this horrible deal he made. Alcor seemed amenable to another deal - this was Hicks's chance to at least _try_ to fix this.

He hated improvising but he didn't really have a choice now, did he?

"Perhaps we could make a deal then," he said.

His heart skipped a beat when Alcor smiled - a broad grin, stretching the face too wide, exposing too many of Evergreen's flat and human teeth. "I wa̛s ̧h̸o͜p̶in̕g̕ y͢o̕ų'd͝ ͏sa̴y͏ t͝ḩat. Well, let's hear it! What do you offer? Come on, you're a pro, you know how this goes."

Hicks hesitated. He realised he hadn't yet informed _anyone_ about this whole business with Tyrone Evergreen. He had wanted to speak to the boy himself to confirm the rumors before doing anything else.

He was painfully aware that Alcor could just kill him and the rumors could just go away, no deal necessary. Of course some students still suspected something, but they would _probably_ know to keep their mouths shut after hearing about Hicks's bloody Alcor-related murder.

He wasn't just playing poker with a bad hand, he had no freaking cards at all. Time to bluff like hell.

"If I notify the authorities you will lose your puppet and I'm sure that, working together, the demonology department will find a way to prevent whatever you are planning," Hicks said, desperately wishing it was true. "You claim you like Tyrone and you want him to graduate? I can make that happen. The University Board doesn't need to be informed about his deal with you. But there's a price."

"There always is," Alcor laughed. "Let's hear it."

_Don't offer to shake on anything before clearly laying out the terms._

_Never_ **ever** _offer your soul._

Hicks took another deep breath. "You will return Tyrone Evergreen's soul to him, unharmed, and you swear never to directly or indirectly cause harm to any student or employee of this university."

" **W̸͛̓̑̌h͒̏ͫ͜o̢ͣȁ̒͑ͫ̃̾̚ ́ͫ̈** t͝h̷er͜e̴," Alcor said. "You don't ask for much, do you? I'm prepared to let Tyrone be the owner of his own soul, but you'll need to s̵we̵e̕teń the d̶ea͏l̴ ̢for me. Besides, I can't promise I won't harm any student or employee. If someone is stupid enough to summon me for something I disagree with they deserve what they get."

Hicks felt his heartbeat in his throat. "Fair enough," he said, slowly. "Let's amend it to 'unprovoked' harm."

"Sure, I can live with that," Alcor shrugged. "But scrap the 'indirectly'. I won't be responsible for breaking the deal if someone gets nightmares about me after one of your classes and gets sleep-deprived enough to fall down the stairs or something."

Hicks took a moment to think. "You will not _deliberately_ cause any unprovoked harm, physical or mental, to any student or employee of this University," he said. "And Tyrone Evergreen, whose body you now possess, will own his soul again, rendering any deals concerning the gaining of demonic knowledge he made with you null and void." Was he forgetting something? Damn it all, if only he had more time to think this through!

"In return, you swear not to do anything to prevent Tyrone Evergreen from completing his studies and graduating, and you will let me eat any of your memories concerning the rumors of demon deals Tyrone made." Alcor smiled again, gold eyes widening. "D̵̡͓̝͔͔̠̗͇͔E̗̼̩̰͔A̶̹͈̠̮̮̤̦L̸̡̯̙͎͕?"

Memories. He wanted Hicks's memories. But Alcor had been very specific about which memories, and if Tyrone's soul was his own again he wouldn't be able to be possessed that easily... and without the knowledge Alcor had granted him he would be just another student, there was no real reason why Hicks had to remember the rumors, right?

Who was he kidding? He _had_ to take this deal. It was hilariously in his own favour - Alcor was giving up Tyrone's soul, no demon did that! There must be some _huge_ drawback to this deal, really, but no matter how hard Hicks thought about it he couldn't quite figure out what the catch was.

"Tick tock, professor," Alcor said, offering his hand. "You taking this deal or what? I've got places to be, you know."

There had to be a catch, there had to be...

Hicks took Alcor's hand. "Deal," he said, his heart hammering in his chest.

He was expecting it, but he was still startled when the hand grasping his own was suddenly awash in blue flames.

Evergreen's hand grew claws. His skin - even his clothes - turned black as the void, gold snaking across his form in straight lines like brickwork, a third eye opening on his forehead.

"N̉ͯ͝i͐ͪc̓̀ͨ͊ͮͪ̄eͪ̾ͯ̀̿̏̊͡ ͛̃͂d̾̃̍o̡i͛͛̾͑̇n͒͌̇́̿ͨ̚g͒͂̓̏ ̽̆͋ͬ̾͘b̈̀u͂̍s̽ͤ͂͝i͒ͦ̑́n̓ͯ̏̚ȇͮ̈s̋̒̾̊͠s̈́͊̏ ͬ̃ͪ͊ͯ͌̚w͊̕i͂̈ͪ̾͂̋͝t̓ͭ̓̒̉͌h̛̐̄ ͊͐̔ͩy͛̂͆̿̎̏͡óͥ̽͏u̴͊," Alcor the Dreambender said with a huge grin, showing a double row of shark-like teeth and still holding Hicks his hand in an unmovable grasp. "So for my part, I cannot give back what I've never taken. Tyrone's soul is his own - and **m̦͎̹͎̟ͧ̋̈ͥ̇i͉̖̖̞n͔̭͎̯̙̘e̹̗͋ͧ̊͗ͦ͟** \- funny how that works, right? You pretty much gave up your memories for free. Sure, I won't harm the other students - wasn't planning to, really. I just want to have f̧u̕n̡̛. I̗̻̼̙ͅͅs͚̬n̰̦̳̙͔̱̘̺̦'̞̺̩͚̱͇ṯ͓̣͚̜̟̯̣̱ ̗̟͓̗t̰͙͖̼h̯̻̫̤͍̘ḭ̼̭͇̪̳̟̰s̳̖͉̗ ̳ **f͚̗̱̥͖̻͍u̞̦̞̱̳͔͕̞̻n̳̣̯̙ͅ**?"

"You - you are - but how -" Hicks stammered. _This couldn't be_. He didn't understand - why would a demon pretend to be - this was madness! **Madness!**

_He had to warn someone!_

"Sorry, our deal didn't include answers," Alcor said in a sing-song voice. "In fact, I think it's time for you to fulfill your part now. After all, time's ticking, I have class in an hour. Don't worry! T̫̩̯̗͓h̠͈̪̣i̙̪̮s͉͕͕͎̘ ̪̖͖ͅw̻̟͚o̺̻̟̰͈ͅn̥'̙̭̮ͅt͈ ̮̗̮͉͓͔͇̩ḫ̰̲͚͖͕u͚̖r͍͉̟̣̜͖͚̗̻t̹̜̺̝ ̳̟̻̻ͅa̫͓̹̜ ̹̙ _b̪̤̝̳̳̪͔͇i͔͚̩t͖̩͚͓͔̫̯_.̪͈͚̰̬̭͕."

The deal included his memories of the past conversation too, Hicks realised. He could only blink before Alcor the Dreambender reached for his head - _his mind, his memories_ \- and everything went blank.

* * *

 

Hicks blinked.

"Everything okay, sir?"

Tyrone Evergreen stood in his office. Huh.

Wasn't there something... ?

His head felt a bit woozy. Maybe he should go to bed early tonight, instead of working until past midnight as usual.

"I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere for a moment," Hicks admitted. "Er. I'm sorry, why did you want to see me again?"

"I had a question about my assignment," Evergreen said. "You just explained it to me, don't you remember?"

Remember... ?

"Oh, right," Hicks said. He must be more tired than he thought. Was he coming down with something? Maybe he could ask Barnes to cover his class this afternoon. "Well, I'm glad to help."

Evergreen smiled at him. For some reason that made Hicks a bit uneasy, which was ridiculous of course. Oh well. A full night's worth of sleep and he'd be fine, for sure.

"Thanks again, professor," Evergreen said. "See you in class!"

"Yes," Hicks smiled back. "See you in class, Tyrone."

The boy left. Such a gifted student. He would make a fine demonologist one day, Hicks was sure of it.


	5. Teamwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas felt like the biggest idiot in the whole wide world.  
> "Sorry I dragged you into this," he said to Tyrone. The plastic zip ties bit in his wrists. He was lucky he'd decided to wear socks today, otherwise his ankles would have been a raw mess by now.  
> Stars, why was he thinking about socks at a moment like this?  
> In the gloom of the basement he saw Tyrone shrug. "Hey, at least we're in this together, right? We'll get out of this, you'll see."  
> Thomas wished he could be so optimistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hesitated to post this because it's a lot less light-hearted than the rest of my little drabbles. So... warning for kidnapping and fear of death and stuff.

A week had gone by since her visit to professor Hicks's office and nothing had changed. Evergreen was still top of all their classes.

Okay, almost all their classes. Somehow he managed to be the absolute **worst** in the class _Ethics for Demonologists: a Moral Approach_ _to Summoning_. How unsurprising. If there was an award for Most Likely To Become A Cult Leader After Graduating, Evergreen was a shoe-in for it.

Why wasn't he _expelled_ yet? Making a deal with a demon to gain his knowledge was an obviously unfair advantage and he should at least get _some_ kind of punishment!

Elisabeth Adams was fuming all through Contract Negotiation. This class session they had to come up with fictional deals and give eachother feedback, and that damn Evergreen and his buddy Strange managed to find a loophole in hers. She wanted to slap that grin off Evergreen's face.

She was done waiting. She stayed behind after class and confronted professor Hicks as soon as the other students had left.

"Have you spoken to Evergreen yet?" she asked.

Hicks seemed puzzled. "Spoken to Mr Evergreen? About what?"

"About his deal with Alcor the Dreambender."

A strange expression twisted Hicks's face. It came and went so quickly Elisabeth would have thought it was her imagination, if she ever had been in the habit of doubting herself.

Hicks blinked and then smiled pleasantly. "Sorry, my mind was elsewhere for a moment. What were we talking about again?"

Elisabeth could _scream_.

It was clear she couldn't expect any help from Hicks. Evergreen must have done something to him - a demon deal, probably.

Clearly she had to do something herself. But she would have to be careful. She didn't think Evergreen had the guts to have her killed, but Hicks was proof that he wasn't shy of messing with people's memories.

She needed proof. Something unmistakeble, something that would show the world he had gained his knowledge unfairly and something that couldn't be swept under the carpet if he happened to get her memories erased by his damn pet demon.

She was so lost in thought she didn't notice the man trailing her on her way home. Not until he called out to her.

"Miss? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Great. Someone who wanted to sell her some stupid e-magazine subscription or something. Or ask her if she wanted to donate to one of those charities she heard about. The university campus was lousy with people trying to make money off college students, even though they should know that was a bit like trying to get blood from a stone.

She ignored him and kept walking, but the man's hand suddenly grasped her shoulder.

"Miss?" he said, and let go. "Apologies. I just need to ask you a question, it'll be quick - you take demonology, right? Fourth year?"

She narrowed her eyes. Not a salesman then - maybe one of those idiots who tried to get demonology scrapped from the university?

There were a lot of wackos in this city. It didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Yes," she said curtly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get home."

"Great!" The man's smile had an edge of desperation. "Maybe you could help me? I mean, I've been trying a summons and I followed all the instructions but for some reason it never gets through. Could you maybe take a look? I can pay you for your time. I just need some expert advice."

"Sorry," she said. "I'm not interested. You can always contact the demonology department if you need assistence, I haven't graduated yet." She wasn't going to help with a demon summoning and risk expulsion. Or worse...

The man's smile disappeared. "Too bad," he said. "I was hoping we could do this the easy way." He raised his voice. "Boys? Your turn."

He'd brought friends.

She should have run faster.

* * *

 

Thomas felt like the biggest idiot in the whole wide world.

"Sorry I dragged you into this," he said to Tyrone. The plastic zip ties bit in his wrists. He was lucky he'd decided to wear socks today, otherwise his ankles would have been a raw mess by now.

Stars, why was he thinking about socks at a moment like this?

In the gloom of the basement he saw Tyrone shrug. "Hey, at least we're in this together, right? We'll get out of this, you'll see."

Thomas wished he could be so optimistic.

He was so stupid! Why the hell had he believed that random woman? They'd been on their way to the Mangy Dog when she had approached them, asking  if they were the demonology students she'd heard so much about and if they could give her some summoning advice. It wouldn't take long, she'd promised. And like a total fool Thomas had sent Maria a text so the rest of the gang wouldn't worry and followed the woman into a car.

Only to get tied up - _literally_ \- and thrown into a dusty cellar. He just managed to get the bag off of his head so he could see. Not that there _was_ much to see.

He had a bad feeling about this.

It had been more frequent, lately. The abductions. Students going out for a drink and never returning home. Sometimes they found the body. Usually they didn't.

"What do you think they want with us?" he asked, to break the silence. A dumb question. There weren't many possible reasons why someone would kidnap two demonology students and it sure as hell wasn't to congratulate them on their career choices.

They were going to be used for a summoning. If they were lucky, it would be only for the preparations - drawing the circles and all that.

They probably weren't going to be lucky. Why risk kidnapping anyone else if they could go for the economic choice and simply use them as sacrifice?

"I can guess," Tyrone said. "But don't worry too much. I'm sure we can get out of this."

The door slammed open and lights flickered on. Two men came in, carrying a bound and slack figure between them. Wasn't that Adams?

Great. They'd kidnapped the top three demonology students. Whatever they were planning, it was most likely not going to be about unicorns and rainbows.

The men dropped Adams on the floor close to Thomas and at the impact she seemed to rouse. Had she been drugged or knocked out with a spell?

Adams blinked at him. "Where are we?" she slurred.

"In a basement," Thomas said, with a wary glance at the silent men.

"What? How? _Why?_ Ugh, my head..."

"The _how_ is obvious, and I think we'll soon hear the _why_ ," Tyrone said, leaning against the wall with such a nonchalant air Thomas started wondering if he was missing some vital clue or something.

"Oh my god," Adams groaned. "Evergreen and Strange. I'm going to die and the last thing I'll see is _you_."

Thomas frowned. "I'm not exactly thrilled to be here either, Adams."

At that moment the door opened again and a woman - the woman who had lured Thomas here - entered the room.

"Good, you're all awake," the woman said, while a third man carried in a large crate. "Listen kids, this is how it's going to be. You've got three hours to come up with a perfect summoning for Gubal the Thousand-Eyed. Here are your supplies - this room should be big enough so we'll do it right here. My compatriots and I want lifelong riches and we want to be untouchable for law enforcement. You figure out a way to word that without leaving any loopholes for the demon to wriggle through." She smiled. "Impress me, and we might let you live. But don't try any tricks on us, kids - you'll be right in this room with us when we make this deal and I won't hesitate to sacrifice all three of you if I need to appease an angry Gubal. We'll be double-checking everything before we perform the summoning so don't try to pull a fast one on me. Understood?"

Thomas swallowed. Neither of them spoke.

"I asked you a question," the woman said. She had a gun - a fact which Thomas only noticed right now and it sent a chill down his spine as he stared down the barrel. "I expect an answer. I don't actually need all _three_ of you to set up this summoning, you know. I repeat: _understood?_ "

"Understood," Tyrone said. Thomas could barely hear him through the rushing in his ears.

"Gubal the Thousand-Eyed was it, right? We can do it." Tyrone was suddenly all business. "What do you have to offer him in return?"

The woman smiled nastily. "You're the prodigy. You figure something out. Oh, and don't forget the binding circles. Strong ones. You can use human blood for those. If you need it to be fresh, let us know and we'll provide. We've got plenty."

Well, that didn't sound ominous _at all_.

"You'll - you'll need to untie us," Adams said, her voice shaking. "How can we draw a proper circle with our hands bound?"

The woman nodded at one of the men, the one with the curly hair and freckles, and he roughly cut open the zip ties keeping Adams from moving. Then he did the same to Thomas and Tyrone, but only for their hands and not their feet.

"You do the moving and drawing," Curly said to Adams. "The other two don't need no walking 'round for writing and reading stuff."

"True," the woman said. "Clever thinking, sweetie. Now, kids, remember: you've got three hours. I'll leave you to it but my darlin' and my friends here are going to keep their guns nice and ready while they watch you, and I'll come by often to check on your progress. Good luck."

She left. The door closed behind her. The three men took their position by the only exit, each of them noticeably armed. Curly turned around a chair and planted his feet on either side of it.

"Okay," Tyrone said. "We'll just... start, then. Let's, uh, see what supplies we have."

They convened around the crate.

"We can't do this," Thomas whispered. "We can't. Three hours is not enough time to figure out an escape plan."

"Didn't you hear her?" Tyrone said. "About the blood? We're not the only captives here."

"You can't seriously be considering to save them, whoever and wherever they are," Adams said. "Let's worry about ourselves first."

"It's something to keep in mind, that's all."

"Why aren't you more terrified?" Thomas said. "Do you actually think they're going to release us? We're witnesses! They will _shoot_ us - and that is if we're lucky!"

Tyrone sighed. "You remember what Eddy said, right? That day with the Pitt Cola?"

What was he talking about? Thomas frowned and glanced at their captors, to make sure they were still not paying too much attention to their whispered conversation. "Your deal with you-know-who?"

"I knew it," Adams said. "I bloody well _knew_ it was true - you made a deal with the Dreambender!"

"Shh!" Thomas said, as Curly looked hard in their direction.

"I cannot confirm or deny that," Tyrone said, rolling his eyes. "But I _do_ have the mark of Alcor on my forehead, and I promise you, no demon is going to take me as a sacrifice."

"Great for you," Adams hissed. "But that doesn't help _me_. It's not like Alcor is going to show up himself to save us all!"

"We could sabotage the circle," Thomas said. "Switch some things around, add in Alcor's symbol."

"Great idea," Adams said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Let's summon a bigger, more dangerous demon. Are you always this clever, Strange?"

"Hey, maybe - maybe he's in a good mood. He doesn't like human sacrifice."

"Let's not do that," Tyrone said, suddenly a bit shifty. "They might notice. Besides, you could mess it up badly enough to call an entirely different demon, and then who knows what will happen."

"You've got a better idea?"

"Do what they ask. Draw a beautiful summoning circle for good old Gubal, exactly as they want. One without needing fresh blood, preferably." And Tyrone smiled, slow and wicked. "You two concentrate on that. Let me worry about finding the _perfect_ wording for the deal."

Thomas could guess what he was planning. "You heard her," he warned. "They won't hesitate to kill us if we mess it up. She's gonna check it for loopholes."

His friend was grinning like a shark that had scented blood. "Tr̸ust m̡e."

For some mad reason, Thomas found he did. He nodded slowly.

Adams glowered. "You're both going to get me killed."

"Just shut up and start drawing, Adams. I'll look up the incantation."

"I'll have to look up the circles too, genius. _I_ don't have unfairly gained knowledge about every freaking demon in existence shoved in my head, _like some people I could name_."

They got to work.

Looking up Gubal the Thousand-Eyed Thomas didn't like their chances. Gubal was more high-level than anything on Hicks's 'safe summons' list... Gubal was a killer. But to be fair, it was recorded as having no appreciation of anything shiny and it would probably put a lower price on those 'riches' their kidnappers wished for than another, more money-savvy demon. And he was pretty easy to bind to the circle, according to the book. The first thing you had to do as a summoner was deciding which demon best suited your needs, and Gubal was not such a bad pick in this case, really.

Still, if they'd had any choice in the matter Thomas would have preferred to summon a smaller, less dangerous demon. One that wouldn't take its preferred payment in human flesh. How Tyrone was going to twist that contract was a mystery to Thomas... They'd practised this in class, true, but this was a lot more high stakes than some bad grades and Adams' mocking if they made an error.

Well. They'd probably still have Adams' mocking if it all went south. She was here with them, unfortunately, digging through the crate of supplies to find the proper chalk and candles.

Thomas kept a wary eye on his watch while he dug through the books and helped Adams with drawing the circle. Three hours wasn't a lot, for a thorough preparation. There was no time for clever bindings or failsafes. They'd have to stick to the textbook examples and hope that either their kidnappers kept their word and let them go... Or Tyrone would come up with a clever way to get them out of here by twisting that deal.

At least Tyrone seemed confident. He was busily writing on the provided paper, humming to himself.

Humming.

Tyrone was humming.

Thomas tried to be patient. He really did. Everyone handled stress differently, maybe this was Tyrone's way of coping. But after listening to the off-tune humming _for ten freaking minutes_ he couldn't take it any more.

"Seriously Tyrone?" he said. At least he'd managed to swallow the profanities that were going through his mind. "You look like you're having _fun_."

Tyrone glanced up from his writing, his eyes bright. "I've never been on _this_ side - I mean, I've never done a summoning like this. Isn't it interesting?"

"Like this," Thomas deadpanned. "You mean kidnapped and with death threats hanging over our heads? You're right, I've never done it _like this_ either, but _interesting_ isn't the word I'd use, _Tyrone!_ "

"Will you two _shut up_?" Adams said. "I can't concentrate with your yapping."

Tyrone looked sheepish. "Sorry," he said. "I got carried away."

"Hey you two, back to work," one of their guards barked.

"Just a moment," Tyrone said. "I have a question. How many other captives do you have? And, you know, are they valuable? Because I think I've figured out a perfect deal but the amount of riches you'll recieve will be directly proportional to the amount of lives you can offer, so I sort of need to know."

Adams looked at Tyrone as if he'd grown a second head.

"Is he crazy?" she whispered to Thomas. He could only shrug and shake his head.

He had to trust Tyrone. Even if this deal sounded like the worst idea ever. Let's tell the kidnappers they will get richer for each life they offer the demon! _Great_ plan.

"Just... keep drawing," Thomas said, while they listened to Tyrone argue with their captors.

Eventually the woman showed up again. She was accompanied by a man with a button-up shirt, who inspected the circle.

"It's legit," he said. "This is Gubal's circle. Binding looks strong too, for one without living blood."

"It's coming along nicely, isn't it?" the woman asked. She glanced at the guards. "Any escape attempts?"

"That one was humming earlier," Curly said, pointing to Tyrone. "He might be planning something."

"Really?" the woman said, her eyes cold. "So, kids, you've come up with a foolproof wording for the deal? Let me see."

Tyrone handed the page he'd scribbled on to Adams, who offered it to their captors.

The woman took her sweet time reading it through. Eventually she made a clucking sound and shook her head. "Interesting... We'll be sure to bring our other captive down here when we make the trade. I like it. But there's one big problem with this." She tapped the page. "You cleverly tried to exempt you three from being sacrificed, hm?" She pushed the paper in Adams' hands and laughed. "Nice try. But no. Rewrite it."

Adams' fingers were clenched around the paper. "No," she said. "If you're just going let a demon kill us anyway, I don't see a reason why we should keep working."

Button-up Shirt pushed the barrel of his gun against Tyrone's head, denting the skin above his eyes.

"Shall I give you a reason, pumpkin?" he said.

Tyrone laughed.

It... wasn't a nice laugh.

Stars, had he gone mad? He sounded deranged.

"Wait!" Adams said. "Stop! There's no need to shoot anyone - we'll do as you say. But you don't need all three of us. You really don't. One life is plenty to offer -"

"But two lives will get us a bigger prize than one life," the woman said. "Don't blame me. Your friend here came up with that idea. And I like it, so I'll keep it."

Tyrone had stopped laughing, quite abrupty. His brown eyes still shone with a dark kind of mirth. "Fine," he said. "I'll scratch the part about the amount of lives on offer. I'll rewrite it."

"Good boy," the man said, and lowered his gun slightly. "You have one hour left. Use it wisely."

They spoke for a moment to their guards before leaving, and Thomas took that opportunity to grab Tyrone.

"What is that all about?" he asked, his heart hammering in his chest. They were all going to die. Oh stars, they were all going to die.

"Now we know they have only one other captive," Tyrone said, way too calm for someone who just pretty much signed their death warrant. "And they'll bring them to us when the summoning starts, so we won't have to look all over the place to find and free them."

He looked almost proud of himself. Almost grinning.

Thomas felt numb.

"You're delusional," Adams said. "You've got it easy, don't you? Just let the demon eat us while you're protected by your stupid mark."

"Neither of us is going to get eaten," Tyrone said. "I p̕ro̶m̢ise." In the tense silence between the three of them that last word seemed to have a strange echo. Tyrone sighed and took the paper from Adams. "Now, I'm sorry, but I need to focus for a moment. I don't want to accidentally make a mistake with the wording of this deal."

Adams turned her dark eyes to Thomas. "You still trust him?" she asked.

Thomas hesitated.

"Let's just finish this," he said, and took up the chalk again.

* * *

 

The other captive was a shaking mess with badly bandaged, bloodstreaked arms, a blotchy face and dirty blond hair. Thomas recognised her as one of those students who had disappeared a few days ago. Just another face to add to the line-up of missing students, a line-up all three of them would probably soon join.

Button-up Shirt and the woman, who both seemed to be in charge of this thing, had inspected their circle and declared it perfect.

They'd also checked the script Tyrone had thought up for them. They had approved it.

Thomas had read it too. His life depended on it after all. But he must be missing something, because he couldn't see the loophole Tyrone had alluded to. It was a combination of clear-cut terms and blatant flattery about _trembling in the presence of the strongest demon_ and such. To be honest, the terms seemed a bit messily written, with all that weird flattery mixed in. But the gist of it was still that Gubal would get the lives on offer and in return he'd give their kidnappers their weight in gold and make them untouchable by the law.

Time was up.

They were all bound up again in the corner, with those stupid zip ties. The blond girl lay on the floor on the other side of the room. She was crying hysterically.

Button-up Shirt led the summoning while the other four kidnappers stood aside, guns held loosely in their hands. Thomas didn't know why they still bothered. As if running was an option.

Through the haze of terror he felt kind of proud when the summoning worked on the first try. A bubbling mass was growing in the center, its trails of dripping slime keeping nicely within the edges of the inner binding circle.

"Gͪ͗͐̎Ụ͚̹̺͖̬B͎̯͙̦͙A̝͖̫̅̓ͯͯͪͧ̅L̳̣̫͕͔̋̈́͂ͮ̈͋ ̯͍̰̖̩̈ͩT͔̖̩̺͙̟̉̆̒̈́ͅH̙͂͆͆ͯ͗Ẽ̮̜͇͍̟̺̿ͯ͐ͩ̈́ T̟̟̯̱̬͇ͬ͆̌H̰͙͔ͨ͐O̫͖͚̤̲͇͙̒̉ͧ̓̿͌ͭU̝̻̩̗͕ͣ͒ͅS̩̠͚̘̬ͯ̀̐ͥͪ͊A̭ͥ̽ͭ̾̅̓̌N̬̫̤̟͑̾D̞͓̥ͦ̎̑̍ͣ̓-̺̮̤ͬ̎͂͗E̺ͦͥY͎̎E̯̗͍ͅD̖̤̘̠̻͉̟ ̝̫̲̬͚̫͍̃͗͛̓H̲̗͓̔ͬͦA̱̒S̤͖̤͛̎̒ͦ̍͋ ̝̎ͩH̲̳͆E͓̱͈̣̮̘ͤ͆̈̄̄̃̿A̙͓̦̠̰͕ͣ͑ͅR̻̺̼̩̻̫͍͛ͦͤD͙͈̮ͯ̄ ̖̬̜̪͎͉̤͆Y̱Õ̥̫̥̞̱͌̎ͅUR̤̤͎̩̥̻ͨͪ͌ ̮͔̞̹̍̐ͬĈ̜̗̜̭̋̿̍͛A͔̫̬̺̹͔̽ͅL͇͇̣L̫͈͉̫̘̤̇̋̓ͮ̐ͥ.̖̞̞̈͌͂͛̃ͪ̅ ͍̦̭͛S̳̳̞̹ͮ̾ͅP̩̯̙̻̱̋ͪE̲̳̫̎̃͂A̅̄̾ͪͤ̒̀K̬̙̻͈̹͇̯̿ͤ̈́,̖͈͍͉̏̀̍̽ ͕͎̭̜ͥ̔͑̒S̝̋̃̈́ͮ̆̈́U̼͕̜̣͖͔ͬ͊̒͐̂͑ͭM̦̺͉M̳̠̮̝͉̮̍O̦͈̘͙̫͙͐̔͐ͩ̑̈́̌N̞̹͇̅̊ͯ͛̆ͭ̚ͅȄ̟̂̃͆R̋ͯ͊ͦ."

Only three hours, but a perfect circle, a perfect incantation. All for a demon he hadn't been familiar with. That was pretty good for someone who hadn't even graduated yet.

He would've aced his summoning classes. Too bad he would never get to take them.

His hands were sweating like mad - terror sweat, yergh - as the summoner read the script to the demon. Nope. Still no loophole.

Strangely, the demon - a large floating blob of undeciphable darkness, orbited by a thousand purple and violet eyeballs - seemed to radiate more and more confusion as it listened to the offered deal.

Thomas had the weirdest feeling it was sneaking glances at them. Like, very intently. He could have expected that - it was probably already salivating at the thought of devouring them, or whatever demonic equivalent a floating blob had for saliva - but the gaze didn't feel hungry.

Button-up Shirt fell silent, the deal laid out in its entirety for the demon to accept or not.

Silence, only disturbed by the sobs of the blonde student. Thomas held his breath.

Please... Let the demon decline. Decline and leave.

A slit opened somewhere in the middle of the ball of black goop and Gubal the Thousand-Eyed spoke.

"Ỉ̯̹̤̞͚̫ͮ͆ ͕͖̰̻ͬͯ͊ͪ-͖͎̳͍̰̽̉͐̃́ͅ ͎͕̈́̏͆U͎̫̭̹͇̓̔Ḧ̭̣̙̞̅͒͋ͤ ̦ͅ-͉̦͍̺̻ ̗̜̻̱̞̩ͭͦ̒I͙̻̓̈́́͛ͪ̅̅ ̱̱̺̭̪͉D̦̎O̰̖̠̲̼̩̱ͬ̃͂ ͈̟ͨN̮̙͛ͥ͗ͣͩ͛Ő͓͇̫̟͎ͨ̐ͪ͛ͭT̲͓̺̹̱͎̠̈́͋̐ ̪̿̂̓̅ͯ͌̚T̜̗ͯH̰̲̼̱ͥ̔̒̊I͗ͧ͑N͔̘̮K̳͙̥̱̳̘̩̄̏ͬ ̫͖̪̱̰̱̒̃͗I̲̺͈͙͍̟ͩ̈̈ ͑ͫͣͮC̩̓̋A͎̼̰͍ͮ͋̚N͔̱͋ͅ ͈͈̬̤͎̤ͭ͌̏ͫ͆̎̊T̠̦̠̖͇͒͐Ȃͪ̂ͬ̌̾̍K̤̺͙̤̝̚Ė͎̰͚ ̗̗̬̫͎͚̀T̬̫̦͉̑̏͒̀H̳̱̥͕̍̉͊͋̆̒I͖ͯ̎͑S͙̮̙̮̠̩̰̏͌̿ ̮̟̠̦̟̱̳̍́̇̎͛̂D̻E̠̬͚͕̞̜̞͊ͤ̉ͤ̿ͨA̼̪̞͉̞͙L͉̙̋ͬͪ͊̌͊ͦ."

It was difficult to read the body language of something that mostly resembled a bubbling ball of goop surrounded by floating eyes, but it seemed... nervous?

Wow, Tyrone had been right. Alcor's mark was a big deterrent to other demons. Maybe they would survive this after all...

Or maybe their kidnappers would blame them for the failed deal. Still. They were probably dead anyway, but better a bullet than an eternity of agony as their souls were devoured.

Then Tyrone had to open his damn mouth.

"Seriously?" he said, full of disbelief. "There's an obvious loophole! Are you a demon or not?"

If his arms hadn't been tied on his back, Thomas would have buried his face in them. Just let the demon _leave_ , Tyrone! Don't make it freaking angry!

"B͚̞̙̮̞̗̜̾U̺͓̺̩͚̠Tͨͩ͛.̠̰̜̠͚.̲͙̝̜.̲̹̘̻͍͔̙̿ ̞͍̪ͥ̄͋ͩ **Y̪͕̞̘̱̲͎̦̬ͭ̓̿ͦ̆͊ͤO̯̲ͪ͐͋̏ͥ̀U͓̫̺̻͋̈̆ͬ̓ͫ** ̹̲̲̝͚̬̿ͣͪ̍A̹̽͗͗͑͑͋R͋ͣͩE̅̊̋̃ ̲̓̓̓ͭ̄̎̒Ḥ͕̤̫̥͎͙ͯE̹̟͓̝͂͋R̖Ẹ͕̜̈́," the demon said in the voice of the legion, all of its eyes now staring at Tyrone.

"Yes," Tyrone said. "I am here. An _ordinary human student_ who _just so happens_ to have Alcor's mark. I'm not stopping you from having a go at your summoner. I mean, not like I could. Stop you, I mean. Since I'm _human_. Right?"

"... rͤͤ̍͗̌i͒ͥ̃g̏̊̎h̀t̅," the demon said, slowly, before seemingly rallying and letting its voice thunder: " **D͏̠̦͉͔̲ͅE̻͉̲̫͘͢ͅA̢̰̺̰͉͙̥̱͘͜L̶̵͉͎̺͕̞̗̟̺̲ ̲̫̟̩̫̬̤͉̀A̴҉̬̺̘̹͚̰C̘̯̣̥̲͢Ç̷̨͇͓̜͙̞͈̭E̟̤̲͖P̨̘̥̞̲̰͎̥͖T͇̣̹̞̭̭E̜̝̲̮̭̻̥̩̹D̶̤̩̟̭̖͡ͅ** "

A tentacle-like protrusion shot from the ball of goop, dripping black slime, and curled around the summoner's hand.

"Wait -what _loophole_?" the man asked, but demonic fire burst from the tentacle and sealed the deal.

A wave of viscous, violent purple ichor rose from the ground and covered the summoner. It left shining gold behind wherever it touched skin and it was climbing ever higher, spreading across the room -

Then the screaming began.

There was gunfire, for a moment. Before the wave reached the woman and her three henchmen too.

Thomas turned his head away from the mindbending horrors - that cheery purple liquid turning every living thing frozen and metallic, followed by a dripping black which started eating away at the thrashing golden statues, dissolving them like acid from the bottom up and oh stars, the **sounds**...

"And that's why you don't ask your kidnapped victims to do contract negotiations," Tyrone said, his face lit by the eldritch glow coming from the feasting demon. He seemed smug. Not bothered at all by the nightmares coming true so very, very close to them.

Thomas took a shaky breath. It will be over soon, it will be over soon...

Somehow the zip ties binding his hands and feet had gotten loose. He took advantage of it to huddle even more in the corner of the room, more or less hiding behind Tyrone. A warm and shaking body, also released from her bonds, fell against him.

"Tell anyone about this and I'll kill you," Adams said, her voice muffled because she hid her tear-streaked face into his sweater.

He put his arms around her and held her close.

"Hey," Tyrone said, turning away from the devouring darkness filled with screams and horror. He was apparently released too. Had the demon done it? But why?

Thomas' head hurt.

"It's gonna be okay," Tyrone said, soothingly. "Trust me. It'll be over soon and we're all going to walk out of here, okay? Just... try not to think about it too much. And, er, if you'd like your memories of this erased, I'm pretty sure there's a certain dream demon who would be glad to give you a fair deal - sorry, this isn't the right time to talk about all that. Just... trust me. You'll be okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Thomas closed his eyes tightly and waited for it all to end.

One way or another.

It was a surprise when the lights flickered on. The terrifying sounds had completely faded away.

"It's okay," Tyrone said. "You can open your eyes now. It's over."

Thomas did.

The room was spotless. Of the demon or their kidnappers there was no trace. No blood, no black or purple slime, no gold. Nothing. Only an empty basement, the chalk lines of the summoning circle smudged. Even the candles and the crate of supplies were gone.

The blond girl was curled into the opposite corner, shaking like a leaf.

Tyrone went to her. Thomas didn't know what he said, but the girl seemed to calm down somewhat.

Adams pushed him away and got up. She offered him a hand and he took it. His legs felt like cooked noodles.

"I don't want to spend one more minute here," Adams said. "I'm leaving. And calling the police. And throwing up. Maybe not in that order. You coming?"

* * *

 

Afterwards, Thomas wasn't sure how he managed to walk from the police station to his dorm room. It was all a blur.

Well, to be fair he hadn't managed it yet. He was still sitting here, in front of his building.

It was dark. But not the darkness of a cellar, which was a dead kind of darkness. This darkness was full of sounds - cars, partying students, he could even hear a mouse somewhere nearby.

Good sounds. Normal sounds. No terrified screaming, which was nice.

Tyrone had offered to walk with him to his dorm. Ha! Strenght in numbers, right? How many pamphlets had he seen, warning students to not walk around campus all alone? Like you couldn't get abducted and nearly killed if you were together with a friend.

Tyrone was still waiting. Thomas should probably tell him it was okay to leave now. He could get to his dorm without someone holding his hand.

Heh. Maybe Tyrone needed someone to walk him home too.

Tyrone cleared his throat. "You seem a bit out of it."

Sheesh, Tyrone, really?

"Are you kidding?" Thomas said. "A bit out of it? This was _terrifying_. To be honest, I'm starting to doubt my whole career path. I chose demonology with the idea I would be able to think everything through, that I wouldn't come across the truly dangerous demons without at least the proper preparations and a clear head. Getting kidnapped? Nearly getting killed? That was bad enough. But... having to listen... stars, Tyrone, the screams didn't get to you at all?" Thomas took a shivering breath. "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to sleep again. Not without nightmares. I should have realised it sooner, I really should, but... how can you ever be prepared for a monster like that? And that wasn't even the baddest demon around." Thomas stared at the neon bar sign across the street. He felt wrung out. Hollow. "Makes you think."

A long, tense silence.

"I need to apologize," Tyrone said softly. "I, uh, I could have stopped the whole thing a lot sooner."

Thomas felt a lead weight in his stomach. "What do you mean?"

"Alcor could have come. I sorta have a way to let him appear in like, a second."

The vague fear - that Tyrone had been in league with those kidnappers, that Tyrone had somehow tricked him - faded as quickly as it had come. Thomas turned his head and shot his friend a weary smile.

"You don't need to apologize. Really. It's a good thing you didn't. Like Adams said: ' _summon bigger demon'_ is never a good idea."

"He could have gotten you all out of there before you had to see Gubal go to town on our kidnappers," Tyrone said. "I should have at least offered. I was being selfish."

"Selfish," Thomas repeated. "Because of what would happen to you, if you ever summoned Alcor again?"

Tyrone glanced away. "Yeah," he said. "Kinda."

One day, Thomas vowed, he would get the full story of this deal between Tyrone and the Dreambender. One day, but not today.

"It's okay," he said. "You saved us anyway, right? Your loophole worked. We're both alive, Adams is alive, that other girl is alive. Nightmares are a small price to pay, considering."

He took a deep breath. He'd been unfair to Tyrone. The guy had been so confident during the worst moments of Thomas his life... but that could have been an act, a way to stay strong under stress. He didn't seem confident now. He looked small and guilty.

"Hey," Thomas said. "Do you want to crash at my place? It's late, we're both tired as hell. I have a large couch."

They could both use a friend right now.

\---


	6. Ethics or Something Like That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hicks waited for the three of them to sit before taking a seat himself.  
> "You probably know why I wish to see the three of you," he said. "You have all been through a traumatic experience. One that is related to demons. I want you to know I completely understand if you have second thoughts about your future as a demonologist."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a direct continuation of the previous chapter (Teamwork). Might want to read that one first if you haven't already.
> 
> TAU has eaten my soul, you guys. Also I spend way too much time trying to find the names for those funky colours Dipper sees, then gave up and made up some colours myself. Who knows, maybe I got close.

"It must have been horrible, dude," Eduardo said. "You sure you want to go to class today? You've got the perfect excuse to skive off."

Class started a bit later than usual. Maria had clearly taken the opportunity to sleep in and Brad always showed up with mere minutes to spare, but some students had shown up at the regular time for class and they were now hanging around on the stairway.

"I'm sure," Thomas said. He shrugged. "Besides, it's Ethics." Nothing scary about Ethics.

Since the whole kidnapping thing... it had been difficult. He had skipped a few days of class, of course - too tired and worn to focus on anything. But he couldn't keep putting his life on hold, right? He'd been thinking, hard, about his life and his future and how the hell he was going to handle it all.

At least there hadn't been any nightmares, strangely enough. He could try to forget the horrors without having nightly reminders.

Tyrone groaned. "Ethics," he said. "Great. I wonder what ridiculous case studies Garnet has dreamed up this time."

Tyrone did not get along with professor Garnet. The feeling was mutual. Together with another teacher she taught Ethics to the entire university and she had a low opinion of demonology, which she made clear in many little ways. Her classes were interesting though. Rather relaxed even, as long as Tyrone didn't get into one of his arguments with her. He could really play the devil's advocate when he wanted to.

"I'm just asking," Eduardo said. "It's only been a few days since it happened. No one would think it weird if you stayed home."

"Adams is here," Thomas said. He waved vaguely in her direction, a bit higher up on the stairs. She caught his eyes for a moment and then demonstratively turned her head back to the book in her lap. "It's nice of you to worry, but we can handle it. We're fine. Well, I'm fine. Don't know about you, Tyrone."

"Huh?" Tyrone said, distracted by the Mr Adequate bar he was eating. "Oh, right. It was pretty scary I guess."

"Well, okay. If you need anyone to talk to, you know how to find me," Eduardo said, a bit dubiously. "And I'm sure Brad and Maria would tell you the same thing if they were here right now. Want to hang around tonight, my place? Pizza, B-movies and Amazing Luigi Party Bros?"

"Yeah, sounds nice, thanks Eddy," Thomas said. They were good friends, really. He turned to Tyrone. "You in?"

"Maybe. Depends on work," Tyrone said. "I'll let you know."

"Mr Strange, Mr Evergreen?"

Thomas looked up. Hicks had shown up, Adams trailing behind him.

"Could you follow me, please?" he said to Thomas and Tyrone. "I would like to speak to you for a moment."

"We've got class in ten minutes, sir," Thomas said.

"I have notified Mrs Garnet, don't worry."

* * *

 

Hicks didn't take them to his office, but to one of the side rooms of the library. It was the cosy one with the couches and the holographic wall. The wall was set to a soothing forest scene, a deer lazily chewing grass in the distance.

Hicks waited for the three of them to sit before taking a seat himself.

"You probably know why I wish to see the three of you," he said. "You have all been through a traumatic experience. One that is related to demons. I want you to know I completely understand if you have second thoughts about your future as a demonologist."

"I'm not giving up, sir," Adams said. "This was a freak occurence, it's not like we'll get kidnapped every week. And we won, didn't we?" Her voice shook a bit but her eyes almost sparked fire. "They're dead and we're alive. The next ones will think twice before kidnapping a demonologist to design a deal for them."

"True," Hicks said, visibly taken aback by her heated answer. "But as I was saying, it is completely normal to have doubts."

"I'm not quitting either," Tyrone said. He shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, they got what was coming to them."

Thomas was silent.

"Well," Hicks said. "In any case, as you know we'll start with actual summonings this month. Sprites and spirits for now, but if you pass your midterms, you will spend the last semester both witnessing and performing many summonings." His voice was sympathetic. "After what you've been through, it could be difficult to face a demon again. I do hope you've already spoken with a certified professional about this? If not, I suggest you do so, for your own sake."

"A certified professional?" Adams said. "What, like a shrink?"

"A therapist," Hicks said. "It would be wise. You don't want to start a summoning and freeze up in fear."

"Thank you for your advice, sir," Tyrone said. "This was a good talk. If that's all? Class is starting."

"One more moment, please," Hicks said. "I would like to hear more about this deal you designed, if you don't mind telling me?" He smiled. "Professional curiosity."

Tyrone glanced at Thomas. "I don't remember much of it, sir," he said. "It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing."

"It was insane," Adams said. "I still don't know which loophole you meant."

"There must have been one," Thomas said. Hicks met his eyes and he added: "They wanted their weight in gold and to be untouchable by the law. And Gubal turned them into gold statues - slowly - and ate them. _Slowly_. But the deal had so many fail-safes against Gubal turning on them, it shouldn't have been possible."

"A demon can always find a loophole," Tyrone said. "Given time and effort."

"That's a comforting thought," Adams said. She frowned. "It must have been that flowery language you added in. Muddled the terms somehow, switched the designated victims from us to the cultists themselves. Damn it, I should have copied it down."

"We were a bit too busy to think about that," Thomas muttered. "Fearing for our lives and all." The loophole thing bothered him the most. All those classes on contract negotiation, and he hadn't seen it at all... How was he ever going to be a succesful _(living!)_ demonologist if he missed something like that?

"It all sounds very... difficult," Hicks said. "Should you remember more about the exact terms, please let me know. I think we could learn a lot from this ordeal." He shot them a tired smile. "I do hope you decide to finish your studies here.All three of you are very gifted and I'm certain you will - in due time - make great contributions to the field of demonology. It would be a shame to lose you."

"Thank you, sir," Adams said.

Tyrone grinned. Thomas smiled and nodded, his mind conflicted.

He wanted to become a demonologist. He was fascinated by demons, always had been.

But... he needed more practice. _Way_ _more_ practice, because he couldn't afford to miss a loophole _ever again_.

They had barely left the room when Adams cornered Tyrone.

"Study group," she said. "You and me. You're telling me all those little things you learned from your buddy the Dreambender. Anything that helped you to think up that deal."

Tyrone laughed. "Why should I?"

"Adams, shut up about you-know-what," Thomas said quietly. Hicks was walking only a few feet behind them, he could probably hear every word they said. Was she trying to get Tyrone expelled?

"I'll keep my mouth shut about your deal, Evergreen," Adams said, ignoring him. "But I want you to teach me." She grimaced and added: " _Please_."

"Not to be a bother, Adams," Thomas said. "But _shut up_! Hicks can _hear_ you."

"Doesn't matter," Adams shrugged. "Watch." She turned to their professor, who was frowning at them. "Hey, professor, have you heard about Tyrone's deal with Alcor the Dreambender?"

Hicks looked shocked for a moment, before a peculiar expression crawled over his face. He blinked and only a faintly confused smile remained. "Excuse me, Miss Adams, could you repeat that?"

"Tyrone made a deal with Alcor. That's why he knows everything."

"Adams!" Thomas hissed.

"No, it's okay," Adams said. "He doesn't remember anyway."

Hicks had indeed gone blank again for a moment.

"I'm sorry," he said. "What were we talking about again?"

"Tyrone. And his deal -"

"Yeah, that's enough," Thomas said quickly. "You made your point. _What the hell_ , Tyrone?"

Tyrone was blushing. "Well, um, there's a completely innocent explanation for this..."

"He made a deal to take away all of Hicks's memories concerning him and Alcor," Adams said. "It's _obvious_. Sheesh."

"Let's move this conversation to somewhere we can't be overheard," Thomas said, because Hicks was standing there, blinking confusedly again before smiling.

"What are you still doing here?" their professor said.  "Mrs Garnet is expecting you three. Go on."

"Right," Thomas said. "Class. We'll talk later."

"Fine," Adams said. The look in her eyes promised this wasn't over.

* * *

 

"I can't believe you stormed out of class," Brad said, taking a slice of pizza before Tyrone and Eduardo could eat it all.

" _I_ can't believe Garnet could be so callous," Maria said. "Seriously. This was _not_ okay."

"That's why we all followed you out, Thomas," Eduardo said. He laughed. "And we weren't the only ones. I heard the entire class just got up and left, and Hicks is _livid_. I wouldn't want to be Garnet right now."

Thomas smiled faintly.

Ethics had been... interesting, to say the least.

("It is awful what happened, of course, but this does present us with an interesting case study," Garnet had said. And then she described a _purely hypothetical_ example of a demonologist being coerced to summon a demon, and the demon killed the summoner because the demonologist made a deliberate mistake. "Who is to blame in this case? What if the summoning had gone even worse and the demon had gotten lose and gone on a killing spree? Who would be responsible for those deaths?")

It wasn't the first ethical dilemma she had them work on, and a week ago Thomas wouldn't have batted an eye at this one. It was an interesting moral puzzle. Who was to blame? The demonologist? The demon? The summoner?

It was however in _very poor taste_ to give them this case study when three of the students had lived through it mere days ago and _barely escaped with their lives_.

"Let's skip Ethics for the rest of the year," Brad said. "It's such a waste of time."

"It's a ridiculous class," Tyrone said. He'd been the last student who stayed, too busy arguing with Garnet to notice everyone leaving. "She pretends to see all these shades of grey but if you disagree with her it's all _'god no, how awful, what's wrong with you?_ '" He said that last bit in a falsetto voice that didn't sound anything like Garnet. They laughed.

"You're more of a black-and-white morality guy then?" Maria said.

"Grorange and blurple, actually."

"Those aren't real colours, Tyrone."

"Shows what you know."

"To be honest, some of the stuff you come up with is messed up, dude," Brad said. "Remember that question about the bottomless pit?"

Thomas remembered. The question went like this: you've fallen into a bottomless pit. You're stuck for the unforeseeable future, no way out, you can only wait for someone to save you. You can bring one thing with you. Electronics don't work inside the bottomless pit, so what do you bring?

"How could I forget," Maria grinned. She poked Thomas. "You said you'd bring a friend."

"I stand by that," Thomas said. "Garnet was pleasantly surprised by my answer, by the way."

"Until she asked Tyrone to elaborate on it and explain _why_ ," Brad said. "I don't think 'for conversation and emergency food supply' was the answer she was looking for."

"It's only practical," Tyrone said, but his smile belied his huffy words. He took another slice of pizza and crossed his heart with it. "I would never do that to you guys, but hey, needs must and all that."

"I'll take your word for it. I'm still not jumping into a bottomless pit with you, that's for sure."

"That sounds vaguely dirty," Maria said. "You know. 'Jumping into the bottomless pit together'. You could use it as a metaphor for some _interesting_ things, if you know what I mean."

"Your mind is always in the gutter, isn't it?" Thomas said.

"Yep. And while we're on this subject... I saw Adams sneaking glances at you all morning, Tyrone." Maria grinned. "Something going on between you two?"

"Nah, dude, she was also staring at Thomas," Eduardo said. He frowned. "Unles she's really into you both and you are planning to have polyamorous relationship or something. Are you? It's okay if it's true, I won't judge."

"Yeah, uh, no," Tyrone said, while Thomas nearly choked on his drink. "Nope. Nothing going on. Nothing romantic anyway. At all."

"Are you sure?"

"I would know, right?" Tyrone looked away. "She wants to talk about what happened."

They'd been avoiding that subject all evening. An uneasy silence filled the room.

Brad suddenly got up and brandished a copy of _Diggity Dungeons: the Movie_. "With this artifact of power I banish the awkward silence!"

They stared at him.

He lowered his hand. "Too much?" he asked.

Thomas had to smile. "A bit," he said.

"Really, a hardcopy movie?" Maria said. "Very oldschool."

"It's an old movie," Brad said. "I collect them, okay? No worries, I already checked if Eddy's screen can play this thing."

"What movie is that?" Tyrone asked. "Oh-my-gosh this is based on Dungeons Dungeons and More Dungeons! I remember this one - it's that crazy edition they made in the nineties. Uh,  I'm a bit of a DD&MD history geek. Wow, I didn't know there's a movie based on it."

"There is," Brad beamed. "And it's awful and hilarious. And look -" He presented a sheet of paper. "It has a drinking game! Who's in?"


	7. A Budget-Friendly Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She lit the candles. Unscented, of course. She could do this. They'd studied this in class for three years. Hicks had given a few demonstrations. She was ready.  
> "Astrum splendidum, vos invoco. Vos invoco ut faciatis voluntatem meam. Dico nomen vestrum: Alcor!"

After that disastrous Ethics class - rumours were that professor Garnet was actually going to be fired for this, good riddance - Evergreen had been avoiding Elisabeth.

He may have saved her life in that basement, but damn it, that didn't mean she had to like him. He had all this unfairly gained knowledge, he was getting away with it, and now he didn't want to share it with her. That was just selfish.

Fine. Two could play that game.

She inspected the circle. It was perfect, of course. She had taken her time to draw it and it showed. When using chalk, one smudged symbol could make the difference between calling Freghnup the Scourge of Teeth, or Freddy the Unknowable, who only took living blood sacrifices and got really tetchy when called without one.

Hicks had told her she had to talk to a therapist about what happened in that basement. To put it behind her, to prevent her from freezing up whenever she next witnessed a summoning.

She wasn't scared at all right now. Only tired and annoyed and certain she had to do this. It did help that her dorm room didn't look anything like that basement. She probably should've done this in a more professional setting though. But her floor was large enough for a small circle and she'd put the more embarrassing books away. (It probably didn't matter, but no demon had to know she liked to read the _Hundred Shades of Gold_ series, okay. Especially since it was originally based on Twin Souls fanfiction and this demon in particular was known for _despising_ anything Twin Souls-related.)

She lit the candles. Unscented, of course. She could do this. They'd studied this in class for three years. Hicks had given a few demonstrations. She was ready.

"Astrum splendidum, vos invoco. Vos invoco ut faciatis voluntatem meam. Dico nomen vestrum: **Alcor**!"

Black smoke curled in the center of the circle. It mushroomed up and out, until the entire circle was filled with a thick cloud of darkness. The candles started burning with a ghostly blue flame.

" **W̾ͩ̒͌͛̓ͦH̨̺̙̤̘̰O̙͍̳̺̓͐̄ ̨͔̙̯̪̟͕͇ͪD͇͕̮͍̩ͦ̅Ạ̡͕͈̻̞RĘ̫͙S̶̼ ̭̱͓͉̎ͨ͐̎͌ͥͧͅS͇̤̥̰͔̄U̩̣͗ͥM̱̣ͤM͙̽ͪO̙̠̥̞̠̺͉̍͋ͮ͑N̠͓̱͍͆ ͉̝̠̥͕̦ͥÅ͙͉͖̱̭̻̍̅ͨ̐̚ͅḶ̔̽͠C̮͈̭͖̈͊̔̋̍͟Ọͨ̔̄͊͌̉͊R̳̼̱͈̫̩̿́ͧ̐ͤ ̺̥̲T̷͖̜̙̹̺ͫ͗ͅH̲̻̯̟͔ͬĔ̆ͣ ͍̰͇̉͆̑́ͩ̚̕ͅD̙͉̤̱̟̍ͣͩ͐ͧR̨͎̮͔̲̅̔͊͆͒ͨ̚E̖A̡̮̺͈̩͔̹͒̉͐ͨͬͤ̍M̨͖̹̻̼̰͇B̢̼̳̞̙̼ͯ̎ͨ̔E͙̋̐͗̐ͮ́N̼̼͚͚̱͕ͮ̑̉͒̆ͪD̤̞̣͚̆̉ͥ̐ͪĘ̜͉͕̤̗̺R̘̠̗̈ͩ?̢̘̝̋̒͐̃̾ͅ** "

She... she couldn't remember the script she'd prepared.

The smoke faded away slowly and she could see the demon she'd summoned.

A floating golden star. With a hat and a cane and wings and one huge eye, black with a golden pupil. Not quite what she'd been expecting.

"OĤͦͨ̆̿, ̌ͪ̎H̏̈́ͮ͝O͌̃ͪ̆̊͠W̨̌̆̿͂ͨ ͯ̔C̿̆̈́̓͞Ű͛ͤ͊͑̇͢Tͤ̋͑̐̒ͭͬE̷͒̆̅ͣ͗̾ͩ." The cane poked the edges of the outer circle. "Yͪ͐̈̌ͥͣ̚O͋̑͒͗Uͧ͆̾̽ͤ̽̇ ͭ̂̈́̀ͯͦ̚͏AD̓̈́͟Dͩͬ͑ͣ̅ͧ̑͜Ȇ̔ͭḐ͛̏ ͊͟A̎̽̿͗̈́͆ ̎̋ͩͩ̉B̘̯̹̱̥̦̲̦̏̈́ͨI̜̭͖̪̗̘̎͛̿̋̇̐ͭ̾N̦͖̖̟̱͖̻̖͋̈́̀D̳ͩ̔I̮̝̳̓ͦ̂Ṇ̹̙̻̦̎͛ͯͫ̐ͨ͂̋G͈̪͂ͬ̽̏̒̉͒ ̗̯̲̲ͦͩ̚C̩͕̺̻͇̰̭̱͗̀I̯͙̺̟̦̖͌̋̏̑̏͂̾R̖̜̜̣̥̦͔͎͂̃͗ͤ̈́ͅC͍̗̺̰̳̤̘̓ͪ̌̿ͨ̅̽L̹̩͛ͬ͗̾ͣͅE̗̫̲̥̖ͮ̾̔̈́͑͊̾.͐̋ͮ͗͑ͩ̾̕ ̿̌̐̉YO̐U̸͐̾̃ Ď̌̈̅̉Oͦͤͨ́̔̑ ̆͊̉ͫͭK̶͆̇͛N̈́O̊̇Ẇͣ̔҉ ̎̍͗̐͞T̄̋̑͆͡Hͯ̅҉Ȃ̔͋̄ͨT̵̊ͩ͆̄̌ ̧̈́ͭ̿ͤ̚D͗́Ǫͦ͒Eͣ̀̈́̾ṠN̴̄̉ͩ̓ͤͬ'ͮ̈͏T̴ͣ̏ͮ̒̀ͪ ͦ̎̐ͩͮẄ̛́̍̃͆Ȏ̆ͭ̎̏̀Ȓ̈͐͆̐̏̋K̡ͫ̆ͪͨ̚ ̈̔ͬ҉Õ̶̌N̊̈́ ̨͋ͬM̉͒̔͡É̀̀ͤ̐̾,̷͂ͥ̓ ̉̏ͨŔI̡G̷͑͐͐̄ͫ̚H́ͬ͟Ţ?̋"

"It's a standard binding, of course I know it doesn't work on you," she found her voice. "But the circle looked naked without it and you never know if you might summon something else by accident."

" S̊ͫͭ̈̔ͪ̊M̐ͥͪA̧̓̓ŔT̐ͤ̾͊̌ ̵Tͦ̅ͪ͆͋̈́H̴͒ͪͦ̊͋̓I̵ͤ̉̌͋N̈̌ͫ̆̀K̎̀͛̾I̐̇̌͡ṄͨG҉,͛ͣ͟ ̂̂̔̓͛A͌ͤͭͣͧ͆̕DA̎̈̌̚Ḿ̂̃S̴̊̃," the Dreambender said, his eye crinkling in a mouthless grin. "L̸O͇͙O̘̬̫̗̦K̩̜͎͠ͅṢ̫͖̣̤ ͞L̝I͓̳͕̫̘K҉E͖͚ͅ ̳̤̦͈͕̫̭T͏̮͈͖̳̘͈̜H̡͓O̻̺̜Ś̪̰̭̠͔̝E͖̣͉̫͉͚͟ ̳̪D̵̘̘͕̜͚E͡M̸̰͙̩̖̰̘O͇͘N̛̦̜̼̬ͅǪ͔͙ͅL̩̦̞͈͍O̪̜̮̺͉G͠Y̧̘̼͔ ̢̻̭͍C̖̳͟L̤̹A̟S̹̳͎͡Ś̖E̱̺͓̫S̻̠̹̥͓̦͓͡ ̶̪͔̙AR̟̀E̸ ̷͖P̞̬̰̟͜A̮̦̖͇̟ͅY̢̠͓̘͖͈I͉̘N͈G͚̭̥̭ ̪͝O͉̞͉F͎͔̳̝̤͓̖͢F̡͔ͅ, ̩̘̯̮͘R̝̦̯̖͙I̶̜͇͙̤͓G̣͚̬H̨̯̭̟͙̭͚͈T̘̗͖̟̗́?̟̥̼ͅ ̛̤̜͈̪͓W͕̹̫̪̘E̻̞͍̼L̵͖L,̣̰ ̣̱̗̠̬L̝̣̙̤͢E̼̜͎̮̖̯̥T̗̘̹̫́'͈͕S̩̤̳̜ ͕H̵͓̪̖̤̩͓̰E̶͍̯̲Ạ̞̺̖̪͠ͅR̻̬͖̬̼ ̮͔͞I͍͔̣ͅT.͚͕̰̙̜̥͞ ̡̙̻̣̤̠W̞̥͟H̷̦͖͈Y̧ ̷̻̰̩͉͈HA̛̳̝͕̰̜V̖̯͎̰̝͙͢E̜̙͎̥͔͔ ͢Y͉̼̭͖̥O̬̩̪̼̮̦U̻̞̙͉ ͔̞͎̱́ͅS̸̠U̶M͙̙̠̻̮̞̹M̵O̡̭̖̰̘̣̘N҉͎͚̙E͈̟͎̹͔D͔ ̧̭̠̟ME͜?̙"

He knew her name. He knew what she studied. She took a deep breath and tried to order her thoughts.

"I know you've made a deal with Tyrone Evergreen, a boy in my classes. I want the same deal." She kept her hands close to her sides. She was not shaking on _anything_ before getting the specific terms.

" **T̗͔͍̼̗ͯ̓̎ͧ̈́Y̷̱̩̙̖̞͚͌̈́ͪ̃ͪ̾ͣR͚̞̘͔̜͛͆̽O͙͚̲͂ͨ̏̅ͤ̓Ṉ͓̳̰̉ͅE͆̊ͨ̊͆̈҉͔̤̜̖ ̜̳̩͚̼͇̐E̱͉̩̳ͭͫ̎̏̂ͬ͟V̮̼̝ͮͮ̚Ë́̅̆ͫͨR͔͉͈̗͎͉̭̐̈́̽ͦGR͍ͪ̊͐͒E͈͑͊ͦ̔̔ͧ͞Ȩ͈̝̫ͦN** ̰͇̪̘͖̠̺ͫ͋͆ͤ̈́̉͑,̨͔̹͓̜̘͉̈̏ͬ̇̆̆ ̘̪ͮ͒̈̆̊ͥH̼͕͍̫ͧ̒̽ͅŪ̯̲̟͓̰̼̱ͤH̠̥̲̦͝?"

The star twisted and changed, and suddenly the demon was wearing Evergreens shape, now floating cross-legged above the center of the circle. He was dressed in an old-fashioned classy suit, including the hat. But it was Evergreen's face, even with those startling black-and-gold eyes and that cheshire grin. His wings spread behind him, brushing the edges of the binding circle and making them spark.

Alcor liked to mess with his summoners. She'd been prepared for something like this.

"So you want the same deal as Tyrone?" Even his voice sounded like Evergreen's now, with only the slighest demonic buzz. "S̢po̕iler͝ ál͜e̡rt: I own his s̙̥o̖̠͚̗͖͇u͙̘̺l̘͕̼̱. Still want to make that deal?"

"No," Elisabeth said, quickly. "That's too expensive. I just need to know what Tyrone knows, I don't need all the secrets of the universe. Do you have anything a bit more... budget-friendly?"

Why couldn't she remember the script she'd worked on so hard? This was such a mess.

Wait. He owned Evergreen soul. Did that mean he could possess Evergreen any moment he wished? Maybe there'd been a clause in their contract preventing that.

But... it would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it?

Evergreen, whenever he was not showing off in class, was a huge dork. Maybe all those times he was showing off, he was actually -

No. That was ridiculous, sheesh. Like a centuries-old, all-powerful demon would actually possess someone only to _go to class_? She felt silly for even considering it. The Dreambender already knew everything there was to know about demons, he wouldn't waste his time with demonology studies. If he possessed someone, it would be for more dark and bloody reasons.

"Budget-friendly," Alcor mused, tapping a clawed finger on his chin. "That's a new one. What's your budget?"

According to the books and websites he was very eclectic in his sacrifices. One time he'd show up for a human sacrifice - devouring the lives and souls of his summoners - and another time he'd cut a deal for a bucket of ice cream.

"I can offer the entire contents of my fridge and freezer. They are fully stocked with both meat and ice cream. What does that get me?"

Alcor tutted. "That's not nearly comparable to a s̡o͠ul, Adams. Doesn't your professor tell you to be better prepared than this? When you're asking for the moon, you'd better have something moon-worthy to trade."

"That's not what I asked," she said, annoyed. "What do the fridge and freezer get me?"

"In return... you get this ta͝p̕-da̶ǹc͞i͏ng g͠i͏ant s͞p͜i̛d̵e̢r!" He snapped his fingers and in a flare of blue fire a dog-sized spider with a little hat and cane appeared in the circle next to him, dancing with all eight of its legs.

Elisabeth screamed and backed away.

"Heh, sorry," Alcor said. "I'm just messing with you." Another snap and the spider melted away with a high-pitched screech. "Relax, Adams. You were doing so well up until now! You'll need better nerves if you want to become a famous demonologist, you know."

She glared at him.

"Let's see... For the contents of your fridge and freezer - aside from that bag of frozen peas, you can keep that one - I can offer you _one_ tutoring session. Personal study help from the one and only Dreambender himself! How does that sound? One - no, I'll be generous - _two_ whole hours! I do get to veto any questions not related to the subject, of course. Whaddaya say?"

"That's rather expensive for only two hours," she said.

He raised his hands innocently. "Hey, you're the one on a budget. If you offer a bit m͠ơre̛ - your **m̩̕e̗͕̯̤̰̱̥m̝͔̹͚͞ͅo̧r̹̰͍͎͓̬̖͜i̥̝̖͍͚̻̣͘e͖̜̲͇̘͎̠s̛̞̗͈͍͕** perhaps -"

"No," Elisabeth said. "I'm not offering anything else."

Did she want to do this? Two hours of personal tutoring by the Dreambender himself... But oh, it was so risky. She would have to _spend two hours with a demon_.

Clauses, she needed to add clauses.

"You're not allowed to intentionally harm anyone during those tutoring sessions," she said. "That includes me and my pet fish."

"Sessions? Plural? You're planning to summon me again, Adams?"

"That depends," she said curtly. Had she forgotten anything? Damn it, _Evergreen_. "And you're not allowed to possess Evergreen for anything that may cause harm to students."

"That's out of your budget, Adams," he grinned, his sharklike teeth glinting in the light of the candles. "But hey, how about this: you won't tell anyone who doesn't already know about my connection with Tyrone Evergreen, and I'll promise not to posses him for nefarious purposes. **D̦̣̮̟E̴̬̼̗̮͇̦̯͍̗͘Ą̴̰̪̙͕̗͕͓͇L̴̵̩̱̩̣͟**?"

He offered her his clawed hand, coated with blue fire.

She turned the words over in her head. Oh god. She was really doing this. This didn't count as cheating, right? She wasn't getting knowledge forced into her head, this was only like, a study buddy! Alcor the Dreambender would be her study buddy.

It was a bit like asking Evergreen for tutoring, she told herself. Evergreen got his knowledge from Alcor. Since he didn't want to help her, she'd just... gone to the source. Nothing bad about that. Right?

"Deal," she said, and took his hand. The fire felt cool and tingly.

Alcor, still wearing Evergreen's appearance, tipped his hat.

"Two hours," he reminded her. "What exactly do you need help with? Oh, one moment -" He poked his cane at the protective binding circle and it popped like a soap bubble. He grinned. "Much more comfortable."

She swallowed. "Er. There's this assignment on contract negotiation. I need you to help me check it for loopholes."

"Loopholes. That's not your strong suit, is it?" the demon said, rather worryingly. "Sure. Let's see it then."

She was so screwed.

At least it would be educational.


	8. A Bad Day To Be A Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas took a deep breath. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for since he went to college. The start of his career as a demonologist.
> 
> They'd been working on this assignment for months. Picking a demon, designing the proper summoning and binding circles, practising the perfect wording for a small deal...
> 
> They had all passed the theoretical part. Time for the practical application.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This didn't come out exactly the way I wanted to, but it's something. It's also longer than I planned. It kinda got away from me. So many OC's... So much Zalgo...
> 
> And I finally got some use out of six years studying latin in high school! (Probably still FULL of mistakes, haha.)

Thomas took a deep breath. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for since he went to college. The start of his career as a demonologist.

It was the second to last day before Christmas break, which would be filled with frantic studying to prepare for their midterms in January. They'd been working on this assignment for months. Picking a demon, designing the proper summoning and binding circles, practising the perfect wording for a small deal...

They had all passed the theoretical part. Time for the practical application.

The summonings wouldn't be held in their normal classroom, nor in the large auditorium where public summoning demonstrations were usually held. Hicks had led them to the Applied Demonology lab, a huge and empty basement room with a high ceiling and a viewing balcony. An array of binding circles was chiseled into the floor, missing only a few key grooves.

"For emergencies," Hicks said. "If you press this button - here, next to the door - these circles are completed and need only a single drop of blood to activate." He demonstrated the button and something in the floor clicked, the missing parts of the circles sinking into the ground and completing the binding. "There's also a button upstairs at the balcony. As you can see, there is plenty of room inside the pre-carved circles to draw your own summoning and binding circles." He gestured at the middle button. "This one activates the sprinkler system. Holy water, of course. I'm not going to demonstrate that one - I don't need another shower today. Again, there's a corresponding button upstairs."

"Why not keep the binding circles active all the time?" Brad asked. "Isn't that the safest option?"

"The safest? Yes. But not the most useful. Demons don't like to be bound, and a too tight binding circle might sour their mood enough to make them completely unwilling to cooperate." Hicks gestured to the layered circles. "You'll also notice we use perimeter-type binding circles instead of chain-type. It's the same principle. It would be _safest_ to completely bind the demon's will to yours - chains, full enslavement - but we only use those kind of bindings in the direst of circumstances, when there is no other choice. Because if they get loose before you can banish them - always a possibility you must keep in mind - you'll end up with a raging demon that can't be reasoned with. Remember: _every binding can be broken_ , eventually. Every single one. They're immortal. We're not. Time is not on our side. We should always strive for the quickest and least violent option. Keep your demon calm and you'll get the most out of your deal, without any unfortunate accidents."

He switched the binding circles back to their inactive state. "Any questions, so far?"

"Yes sir. What does this button do?"

Thomas turned around just in time to see Eduardo innocently push the third button.

Hicks cursed. "Stay here, don't touch anything," he said, running for the door as an alarm began ringing and red lights started flashing near the exit. "I'll be right back!"

"Oops," Eduardo said sheepishly. "I guess that's the alarm switch, huh?"

Maria shook her head. "One day your habit of pushing every button you see is going to bite you in the ass, Eddy."

"I'm just glad you didn't push the other one," Tyrone said. "I don't need a holy water shower, thanks."

"You mean this one?"

"Don't you dare, Eddy!"

"Just kidding."

The alarm switched off and the lights stopped flashing. Hicks returned soon after.

"We're lucky," he said. "I managed to put in the deactivation code in time. To answer your question, Mr Noguerra, that's the button for when your demon escapes and the university campus needs to be evacuated. _Don't push it again_."

"Sorry sir."

Hicks showed them the side rooms, which were stocked with everything a demonologist might need, including a large freezer room filled with animal carcasses. There was also a holding pen - empty, at the moment - big enough to house a goat or something like that.

"We usually use mice, if a living sacrifice is necessary," Hicks said. "We get them from the science department. Every once in a while something larger is needed but it's best to stay away from demons who make demands like that. There are plenty of others whose deals are cheaper and less likely to escalate to human sacrifice." He paused for a moment. "Which is, of course, illegal."

"No kidding," the student behind Thomas muttered.

"That's it for this tour. You can all settle in the viewing area here," Hicks said, leading them upstairs to the balcony. He smiled. "Alright class, now is your chance to wow me. Who wants to go first?"

Thomas was completely unsurprised when Adams' hand immediately went up.

"Very well. Miss Adams, you can start with drawing your circles. Everyone else, I expect you to pay attention to everything that goes on during each summoning. Here's a little questionnaire. I'll be collecting these after class and yes, they will count towards your participation grade." Hicks distributed some papers around. Thomas glanced at them.

_1) Which demon was summoned?_

_2) Describe the main summoning steps specific to this demon._

_3) Rate this summoning on a scale of 1 to 10_

_3a) Confidence of the summoner:_

_3b) Succes of the deal:_

And a couple more of those questions. Thank the stars it was at least short.

"You can learn a lot from watching your fellow students," Hicks said. "I'll be downstairs and I'll make sure there are no big mistakes, of course. In case I get incapacitated and you see the summoning going seriously wrong - you're fourth years, you know the signs - don't hesitate to push all those buttons I showed you."

They settled into the chairs at the viewing balcony.

Drawing the circles took a lot of time. Then they were double-checked by Hicks, which took another twenty minutes. It was close to an hour before Adams could start the actual summoning.

Irvron the Blood Guzzler appeared in a shower of red sparks. There was nothing human about this demon. He mostly resembled a crazy mix between a woodchopper with teeth and a bunch of silly straws.

The deal went well - Adams did a good job - but Thomas had to wonder if demons were always this twitchy. Irvron seemed to be in a hurry, barely listening to Adams' terms and agreeing without even attempting to negotiate something better.

The deal was over in mere minutes, and Adams was the proud owner of an authentic demon-spun bloodstone - great for storing spells - in exchange for three pounds of raw steak. Hicks set her to clean up her circles with a mop and came upstairs for the next volunteer.

"Might as well get it over with," Maria sighed. "I bet we won't all get a turn today, and if I have to wait until tomorrow I'll just be more stressed out."

"Speak for yourself," Brad said. "I'd rather go tomorrow. One more day to prepare, right Eddy?"

Maria took a shaky breath.

"It'll be fine," Tyrone said. "You'll do great, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, don't worry," Thomas smiled, and added quietly: "Besides, it's only Flaga the Eagle-Winged. Not the worst demon we ever summoned, right?"

Maria returned his smile. "Right," she said, and squared her shoulders. "I can do this."

Eduardo gave her a thumbs up and after all that encouragement Maria had a spring in her step as she followed Hicks to set up her circles.

Adams settled in the chair Maria had just abandoned. "Wasn't that the smoothest deal ever?" she said, showing off her bloodstone.

"Eh," Tyrone shrugged. "I've seen smoother."

"Of course you have, Evergreen. _Your_ opinion doesn't count."

Tyrone smiled at her - that wide smile Thomas used to find slightly unsettling before he accepted it as just 'one of those Tyrone things'. Still, Adams' reaction was a bit extreme. She paled and stared at Tyrone as if he'd just grown a second set of eyes or something.

"What?" Tyrone said innocently. "Do I have spinach between my teeth?"

"Have you eaten spinach recently?" Brad asked. He exaggerated a shiver. "I haven't touched that stuff since I could spit."

"I used to like it," Tyrone said. "It's been a while though."

"Yeah, we all know you live on sweets and pizza," Thomas teased.

"Don't forget the ramen noodles," Eduardo said. "The holy trinity of student food. Fast, cheap and easy."

"Like your last girlfriend?" Brad said. Eduardo threw a crumpled piece of paper at his head. It bounced off.

"Guys, stop talking about food," Tyrone laughed. "I'm getting hungry and it's still at least two hours before lunch."

Thomas turned back to the balcony edge, so he could watch Maria as she set up her summoning. Damn, she'd switched two runes around. Too bad he couldn't warn her - Hicks had already seen it and was telling her to correct it now. Mistakes like that could really impact her grade.

"Two hours, that's one for Maria to do her summoning, and then one other person. Who's up next?"

"Don't look at us," came from the other side of the room, where a lull in their conversation had allowed the other four students to overhear. "I'm waiting till tomorrow."

"Come on, Brennan, we can't all wait," Brad argued. "At least three more of us need to go today."

Callide, the only non-human member of the demonology class and whose last name was literally unpronouncable, stood up from her chair. She was tall enough for her wild curls to brush the ceiling. "I'll go next. Don't make this so difficult. We all picked this major because we wanted to do summonings, yes?  What's the problem, Kevin, getting cold feet?"

"Nope, I'm just not finished yet. Still need to memorise the wording of my deal."

"You slacker," his girlfriend Amanda said. "You told me you were done!"

"Yeah, more or less. A bit less than more."

"If you get eaten by a demon I'll mock you mercilessly."

"Lightbulb moment!" Eduardo exclaimed. "We should all go out for dinner tomorrow! To celebrate our first real summoning. Who's in?"

"Can't. I'm going to a holiday party," Jimmy Carver said.

"I'm spending time with my girlfriend."

"You _wish_ ," Amanda said, shoving Kevin Brennan from her lap. "I'm going home tomorrow. I'm spending Christmas break with my family."

"Same," Brad said. "Sorry dude. My sis will kill me if I miss my ride tomorrow evening."

"Let's take a raincheck, Eddy," Thomas said. "There's plenty of time next term to do a class outing. Maybe when the midterms are over?"

"A class outing," Tyrone said. "That reminds me of that teambuilding weekend to the seaside in first year. That was fun."

"It was _something_ ," Thomas agreed. Some of the smaller departments organised an outing for their first year students, to let them socialise in a different setting. The demonology students had gone to the seaside, for "exciting" excursions like the Museum of Misshapen Clams and a fish glue factory. In many ways that weekend had been the glue to put their little friend group together. Perhaps a bit too literally - Thomas had had a bald patch on the back of his head for _months_.

* * *

 

"It was a bit anti-climactic, really. It was over so soon," Maria had said during lunch, fingers playing with the long Hippogriff feather she'd gotten in her deal with Flaga the Eagle-Winged.

All the approved deals were small like that - tiny bits of information or slightly rare items. It was only supposed to be a practice summoning, after all. Still, the feather looked impressive. "You know, I do think I'm a natural at this."

"Careful there," Thomas smiled. "If your head swells even more you'll float to the ceiling."

"You'll see what I mean," Maria said, "when it's your turn. The adrenaline, the rush when the deal is sealed and you're still standing - it's amazing."

As he inspected his circles for the last time, Thomas thought he understood. He'd been standing at the sidelines during the Pitt Cola deal and the less said about that time in the basement the better, but there was something strangely exciting about being _in charge_ of a summoning. In moments, at _his_ call, a being of unimaginable power would appear to do his bidding. And the slightest mistake on his part could lead to a bloody, messy death.

No wonder people thought demonologists were all crazy. You had to be a bit crazy to ever think this was a good idea.

He'd never felt more alive.

Thomas took a deep breath and started his incantation. It was mostly in Ancient Sumerian and a real tongue-twister, but he'd practised until he got it perfect.

His thumb stung where the disposable needle had pricked his skin. One of the requirements of this assignment was the use of a minimal amount of blood, which meant quality instead of quantity. Fresh, human and willingly given: a few drops were enough to activate both the summoning circle and the perimeter binding surrounding it.

Asopiel of the Shattering Sky was a low-level demon with mostly weather-related powers. She appeared as a gasous blue-edged cloud, more or less shaped like a woman. A wreath of tiny lightning curled around her shoulders.

" Who ̧c͡al͘l͞ş ̡fo̕r͡ -͜ ͞ya̴d͏da̷ ͏yad͞da̛ y͘a̡d͠d͠a. ̡Wh̢a̡t͜ d́o̶ ̴yǫù wa͝nt ͢kid̷?͟"

He'd done it! Granted, her entrance was not quite as impressive as he'd imagined, but he still had summoned a demon, all by himself!

"Oh great and mighty Asopiel -"

"Y͞eah҉, ͟yèáh," she interrupted, lightning zigzagging over her body. "Ca͟n̷ we͝ hurry͟ t́his ̸up̢? ͞T͘ell m̷e͠ t̛h͞e te̕rms̨ o͏f̵ ̀yo͏u̡r͏ d̕eal.̕"

Why were all the demons in such a rush today? Was this normal? Were they intruding on some unknown demon holiday or something?

"I want snow at Christmas," Thomas said. "Specifically, here on campus. It must be a small snow shower, nothing unusual for this time and climate. It may not have a negative impact on the city's infrastructure or day-to-day living but it must be at least enough to build a snowman. In return -"

"W̢ha͟t̴e̶ve͘r,̵ c̢on̛sider ̡i͠t̕ **d͟on̨e**. D̀͐ͤȇ̏̉ͧͥa̔lͬͬͬ?͊"

Thomas couldn't help himself. "I haven't even told you what you get in return," he said. "Why are you so antsy?"

The demon flinched. "A̶ntsy?̶ ͡Don't҉ ̴for͘ge̷t̵ wh͏ơ you ar͢e tąlk̢i̴ng to͠. ͡D͏emo̸nś don'̷t D̶ͮ̿ͥͭO̓̎ͬ̍ ͟ant͜s̀y̷. ̸N͘ơw̕ sh҉us̵h̡ a͘nd ̨s̴ha̧k͜e͠ ̀o̸n͘ it, t͠herè's a͘ g̵oo̕d҉ ̕b̴oy."

He was getting graded on this and damn it all, she'd made him deviate from his script. They'd warned him that demons would be tricky!

He carefully and slowly repeated the terms, adding what he offered in return - an old weathervane his grandfather used to have on top of his chicken coop, an unusual trade but with some sentiment attached - while Asopiel's cloudy form undulated in the circle, radiating impatience.

Thomas glanced at Hicks to be certain he hadn't made any big mistakes in wording his deal. Then he offered his hand. Asopiel took it without any argument, blue fire flashed, and then the demon was gone.

Thomas massaged his slightly tingly hand and stared at the empty circle. It was over. He'd made his first real demon deal.

"Well done," Hicks said. He sounded a bit nonplussed himself. "But you really should try to stick to your prepared script as much as possible, Mr Strange."

"Yes sir," Thomas sighed. "Is it always over so quickly?"

"Not usually, no, " Hicks said. "To be honest I expected a bit more haggling on their part. They all seem to be in a hurry today... Well, no matter. Congratulations on your first summoning, Mr Strange. Now get the floor cleaned up and I'll call down our last volunteer of the day."

* * *

 

The last volunteer of the day was Tyrone. He drew the circles in record time and without consulting his prepared diagrams. Then he stepped outside of the outer binding circle before adding the last activation symbol.

Hicks took his sweet time inspecting every single line of the complex array.

"Very well, Mr Evergreen," he said, eventually. "You may proceed."

"This should be interesting," Adams muttered, from her seat next to Thomas.

He glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Then who were you talking to?"

"Myself. Shut up, Strange, I want to watch this."

Thomas rolled his eyes. Adams never changed, did she? He only wanted some small talk.

Tyrone's voice echoed in the large room. " _Vos invoco, custode pratorum putrium. Itpolece floris exanimi, Itpolece herbae emoriturae. Vos invoco ad voluntati meae satisfaciendum. Itpolece proveni!"_

The runes on the edge sparked for a moment. The circle stayed empty.

Tyrone cleared his throat and repeated the whole incantation, speaking slowly and carefully.

Nothing happened.

Thomas leaned on the edge of the balcony to get a better view. Nope, no sign of a demon anywhere. Wait, had Tyrone forgotten to use a blood sacrifice? Thomas couldn't remember seeing him prick his finger. Maybe he'd picked a different way to activate his summoning array?

Tyrone was frowning now. "I **_said_** _:_ Itpolece proveni!"

Still nothing.

"My grades depend on this, you know," Tyrone said to no one in particular, glaring at the empty summoning circle. "I would be so _disappointed_ if I failed this class."

The air in the center of the circle shivered.

Something was finally happening - that was a relief. It would be a shame if Tyrone, who had such a grasp of the theory, would fail the practical portion just because the demon he picked was uncooperative. Maybe the circle had some unseen flaw that delayed the summoning somehow?

Hey, that would be a pretty neat idea for a research topic! Time-delayed circles... Thomas turned the idea over in his mind. You could summon a demon, hide in another building, and perform the entire deal through video conference! Would that even be possible? How would you seal the deal without a handshake? Some kind of robotics perhaps?

Or, you know, you could summon a demon in a weak binding circle and run, and let it loose on unsuspecting people while you were far, far away...

... perhaps not such a good idea then. Theoretically it would be an interesting challenge, but you would always have some idiots who would use such a xeno-scientific breakthrough for murder and mayhem.

While Thomas had been thinking, a demon had appeared in Tyrone's summoning circle, crawling through a shimmering rip in the air. Slowly, as if with great reluctance. It was humanoid with lime green skin, with hundreds of thick and blunt fingers growing straight out of its arms. Its 'hair' resembled nothing more than a cluster of large metal scissors, the long blades dripping red. It didn't have an eye - at least not somewhere Thomas could see, you never knew with demons - but it did have a mouth with what appeared to be pointy wooden teeth.

It was beaming madly.

"HEL̊͐͂̀L̈ͫͧ̀Oͭ̾̍ͪ͑," it said. "I͟ ͟mean, W̎̽ͮͭͮ̅H̆̏̌ͣO͗ͪ͊ͪ̓ ̐̐̅D̈́̈ͭ͆̆͒AR͊̉̉̊͌Eͨ͌ͯS̈́͌͒͐ ̽͑̂̊̓Sͩ͐U͂ͤ̈̓M̿͑̾̍̓̎̽M̓͗͒ON̈ͥ̈͊ Mͭ͛̃͋̎͆̂E̋ͭ́͗̔̃?ͬ̅́ ̃WAS̴ ̧IT̷ ̡YƠU̴,͠ ̨ **NORM͘A͡L ͞HUMĄN B͢O̴Y͏**?

"... Yes," Tyrone said. "Greetings, Itpolec, Keeper of the Festering Fields. I want to propose a deal."

The wide grin didn't shift. It seemed frozen on the demon's face. "Aͯ̂ DͤE̅̆ͨAͬͣ̐͊́͗ͭL̍̈́̓̊̊͌,͗ ͬͪ̒̊̓ͮ̚N͏ORM̛A͟L ͏H̸U͏MAN ͞B͢O͞Yͫ̒?"

For some reason Tyrone was glaring again. The demon's grin became even more manic.

"WHAT ̷K̡I̧N͟D O͡F̛ D̸E̛ÀL, ͏NOR̶M̴- I m̧ean͞,̨ u͡h,̴  ͩ̈̅͐̾ͩỲͧ̽ͮ͂O̒ͭ͂ͯ͛̾Uͫ̂̍͗̇̌̃ ͑́P͊ͮͫ̐E͂ͧͧ̎̒͌R͊̊̏ͯͧ̉S͛̌Ö́ͪN̊̌̚?ͪ̍̈̓͑ͯ"

"Stop calling me that. Just call me Tyrone or something."

Thomas groaned. Giving your name to a demon... Tyrone was supposed to be good at this!

"Tyrone!" Hicks said. "You don't give your name freely. Stick to your prepared script."

"It's okay, professor, Tyrone Evergreen is not my full and true name," Tyrone said. He turned his smile back to the demon. "Besides, good old Itpolec here probably already knows my name anyway."

Thomas buried his face in his hands. Tyrone, seriously, what are you doing?

"That is not the point, Mr Evergreen," Hicks said. "Use the wording I pre-approved. And it is wise to show a bit more respect to Itpolec the Keeper."

The demon laughed. It had a hysterical edge to it. "Y̸EA͟H̶,̨ ̧H̨UMAN ̸B̷O̸Y҉, LISTEN T̶O ͢YOƯR҉ ̀TE͘ĄC̀HER! S͝HO҉W̨ ̀A B̨IT̀ ͘MO̶RE͠ ̧RE͇̗̩̪̱S͎͉̰͎͈ͅP̱̥̭̻̞EC͇̙̙̭̬͞T̢͕͎͙͍͚!"

Tyrone narrowed his eyes.

"TYR̷ƠN͝E̕,͡ I̛ ME͠A̕N͟T͞ ̢TO͟ ͠SA҉Y ̷ ͧ̇̐ͥͨͧ͒ **T̒̑̄Y̎͗͑̃̏̂R͋̏ͭOͮͣͬN̾ͬ̌͐E̾**!" Itpolec said, his many fingers twitching. "TELĻ ͏M͠E̢ ͘ABO͡UT ̢Y͡OU͠R͞ ͞DE̸AL͝ PL̀EA͜SÉ,҉ TYRO͜NE̕!͏ PL̷E̛AS͏E!̨ I͜ ̧C͢AŅ ̷GIVE ͞Y̛O҉U **M͢A҉NY ͞TH͢I͡NGŞ** , TY͏RON̛E!́" Some yellowish green fluid was seeping from his skin. Was he sweating? Could demons sweat? "AN͝Y̢T̀H̵I͞NG Y͠O͜U̷ WA̛NT!"

An amused smile spread over Tyrone's face. "Really?" he said. " _Anything?_ "

Hicks interfered before this deal could go even more off the rails than it already had.

"That's quite enough," he said. " _Don't shake!_ Stars, are you crazy, you _don't ever shake_ on anything with terms this vague, Mr Evergreen!"

"Apologies, professor," Tyrone said. "I got carried away. May I finish this?"

Thomas kept an eye on the strange behaviour of the demon while Tyrone proposed his deal - a specimen of a rare orchid in return for a bag of cold pig blood.

Itpolec the Keeper was... well, he was as jittery as Eduardo during a three-day coffee-marathon - one of the 'great' ideas he and Maria had come up with while studying for last year's finals.

"Is that deal acceptable to you?" Tyrone asked.

The demon was nodding before he had finished his sentence. "O̕F C͟O̴URS̕E̡, T̶YR̨ONE,̵ OF ̧COURS̨E̴! ͏YES! I͟S͠ ̛IT́ ̢OV͞E̴Ŕ? C͢A̸N I ͘L͠E͠A̡VE ̨N̵O҉W̶?"

"We still need to shake on it." Tyrone said, and laughed a bit. "Seriously, Itpolec, people are going to start wondering which one of us is the demon if you keep making rookie mistakes like that."

Hicks cleared his throat loudly.

Something made a snapping sound. Thomas glanced at Adams, who was intently staring at the whole summoning downstairs. He frowned. "Did you just break your pen in half?"

Her wild eyes met his for a moment, but she didn't say anything. Blue ink stained her hands.

Oookay then. Someone was a bit high-strung right now...

Itpolec gingerly took Tyrone's offered hand.

"OH,͢ RIG͡H̢T," he said, after a few seconds, and red flames bathed their hands. "IT͢'̴S ̕A͞ ͡D̶ȨA͡L.̵.̧. ͜T̛YRON͝E!̀

The offered bag of pig blood faded away and a potted plant suddenly stood in its place. The demon was gone in a blink.

Hicks shook his head. "Clean up the floor, Mr Evergreen." He turned and adressed the balcony with all the watching students. "We're done for today. Pack up your things. You can leave your filled-in questionnaires up there in a neat pile and I will collect them. I'll see you all tomorrow, ready for our second day of summonings."

As the other students started packing up, Thomas hastily filled in the last questionnaire. He didn't want to give Tyrone a bad evaluation, but... honestly? He hadn't kept to his prepared script _at all_.

Hicks seemed to agree, according to the snippets of conversation Thomas could hear.

"- forgot the script entirely, didn't you? I really should fail you for this. With another demon this could have ended with your life and soul lost."

"I know sir. It won't happen again."

"I do hope it won't!" A moment of hesitation. "But your bindings were flawless. Exactly the right strenght. And there was clearly something strange going on with the demons today - neither of them acted quite as expected. I suppose I cannot blame you for their behaviour..."

A pause, and Hicks's voice became softer and more sympathetic. "You'll have to work on your nerves, Mr Evergreen. The other students today managed to stick to their script, mostly, even with their demons rushing the deals along. You can do it too, I'm sure. You just need more practice. I am still going to lower your grade though. Your summons was a mess, I _know_ you can do better."

Ow, harsh.

"Lower my grade?" Tyrone sounded dismayed. "But I made a succesful deal!"

"Because you were lucky! A demonologist cannot depend on luck, Mr Evergreen, mess up any more deals like that and you won't own your soul much longer!"

A muffled gasp. Thomas frowned. Why was Adams still sitting here?

"Hey, Adams, um," Thomas said, really looking at her. Was it normal to be so pale? Was she ill? "What's wrong?"

"You don't want to know," she said in a strangled tone of voice. She shoved her notes in her book bag and hurried away, pushing past Maria as she went for the stairs.

"What's _her_ problem?" Maria said. "Hey Thomas, you ready to leave? Eddy rushed off already, he needed to catch his bus."

"And I need to get home so I can memorize my summoning script," Brad said. "See ya tomorrow, dude!"

"See ya tomorrow, Brad."

Tyrone trudged up the stairs. "I need to collect my stuff," he said. "Hey, does someone want this flower?"

"You should keep it," Maria said. "It's a nice keepsake of your first official deal."

"I don't want a keepsake," Tyrone said, sulking. "Did you hear Hicks? He's lowering my grade. There goes my perfect score."

"Tough luck," Thomas commiserated. "Still, it could have gone worse, right? At least no one got hurt."

"You know Hicks. He's all about being careful," Maria said. "Sometimes a bit too careful, really. You did okay."

"Well... I may have gotten a bit too carried away," Tyrone admitted. "But still! My _grades!_ " He frowned. "If Hicks is so strict about that script, fine. Next time I will make sure it's followed to the _letter_."

* * *

 

Even demons, not the most sociable of creatures at the best of times, sometimes needed a place to drink. This place was the Midway Bar.

A bunch a low-level demons - five to be exact - were huddled in one corner of the establishment.

"And then I said ' _anything_!'" one of the patrons said, its voice thin and reedy. "I don't know what came over me! I said it and he would have taken it if that human hadn't interfered! I owe that human a favour now! A **big one**!"

Poor Itpolec. Compassion did not come naturally to demons, but Asopiel felt a twinge of something that might be close. She would have to devour Itpolec soon, she decided. Free him from his suffering.

"Should be illegal," Irvron muttered, his shape curled around a glass with a little paper umbrella. "Messing with our summonings like that."

"Nothing is illegal. We don't have any rules," Flaga said. She stretched her wings for a moment and nearly brained one of the scurrying servers with a careless swipe. "Besides. Who's going to tell the Dreambender what he can or cannot do?"

They sure as hell wouldn't. A bunch of low-levels against Alcor the Dreambender? He would see them as a snack rather than a challenge.

"You know what's the worst?" Itpolec said. "This is just the **first time**! There's going to be six more months of this!"

A gloomy silence.

Irvron fiddled with his little paper umbrella. "I need another d̰̤̜̪ͅr͎̞i̹̜̜͔̬n͈̞͈̠͔k̬̦͙."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Midway Bar is, of course, from http://archiveofourown.org/works/4829432/chapters/14859430.
> 
> The Latin should translate somewhat to:  
> I call you, Keeper of the Festering Fields. Itpolec of the desouled flower, Itpolec of dying grass. I call you to fulfill my wishes. Itpolec, appear!


	9. This Is Why We're Never Invited To Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She hated parties like these. Too loud, too crowded, the unpleasant odor of too much perfume and body spray mixed with sweat and spilled beers.  
> But on the upside, she could now observe Evergreen without being noticed.  
> If it was Evergreen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... this happened. I'm not entirely happy with this one.

Holiday break was a peaceful time on campus. Most students had gone home to be with their families. The ones who were left kept mostly to themselves, getting ready for their midterms.

Thomas took a sip of his cinnamon latte. He was sitting in one of the many coffee bars that littered the university campus, just idly scrolling through his collection of ebooks. It was nice to get out of his dorm every once in a while.

There had been snow on Christmas day. Thomas couldn't help feeling proud when he'd seen it. That had been _his_ doing.

He'd told his parents this, during their video-call, but they were still not entirely comfortable with his choice of career and they'd changed the topic quickly to the typical "we miss you," and "do you have a girlfriend yet?"

He loved them of course, but it was nice to have some peace and quiet while he studied. Holidays at his parents' house were fun but too distracting. He'd make it up to them next year.

Besides, he still hadn't told them about that whole hey-I-got-kidnapped-and-nearly-sacrificed thingy. He probably should, but... That wouldn't make them like demonology any better, right? They would only worry.

... fine, he was going to tell them. Not during the holiday season, obviously, that would ruin their celebrations. But pretty soon. Probably.

"Oh gosh it **_is_** you!"

Someone slid in the empty seat across Thomas. It was a girl, and she was smiling at him.

"Wow, I'm so lucky to just run into you!" she said. "I've been looking for you! I waited outside the demonology classroom on the last day of class but I think you had a free period maybe?"

"We were in the lab," Thomas said, a bit bewildered. "Uh. Why were you looking for me?"

"Not you specifically," the girl corrected, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. "But all three of you. I'm sorry, I don't even know your names - I wanted to thank you."

"Thank you - I mean, thank me?" he said. Why? And where did he know her from?

"For saving me. You know... last month? From those horrible people who wanted to let a demon eat me? Oh! My name is Alice by the way."

Yeah, that rung a bell, unfortunately.

"Thomas," he introduced himself, taking her offered hand. "And uh, you're welcome? I'm uh - I'm glad you look better. I mean, uh. I'm glad we all got out okay."

She smiled. "I'm glad too."

There was an awkward silence.

"So... You're a student here too, right?" Thomas said. What did you say to someone who you had only seen once, while they were a crying mess and fearing for their lives?

She looked so different now.  All bubbly and, well... nice. With her hair in a ponytail and a flush on her cheeks.

"I am," she said. "Environmental Science, third year."

"Sounds interesting."

"It is!" she said, and Thomas was treated to a long and enthusiastic story about one of her class outings to the wetlands and he could barely understand two words out of five with all the scientific jargon she casually used. BOD and COD? Macrophytes?

"- and that's when we realised we'd trespassed on the territory of some water fairies and it took our whole stash of sandwiches to smooth things over." She laughed. "But here's me, yapping away as usual. You study demonology! That must be so exciting!"

"Really?" he said. "You really think that, after, you know... what happened?"

Her eyes went wide. "Don't you? Oops, sorry - did you quit demonology? If you don't like to talk about it -"

"No, no, it's fine," he said. "I didn't quit. It's just, most people wouldn't describe demonology as 'exciting'. I agree though! It is exciting. Usually. I just thought that _you_ wouldn't want to talk about it, since, you know..." He awkwardly stirred his coffee and fell silent.

"Of course I don't mind talking about it. It's only thanks to you and your friends that I am still alive right now," Alice said. "You won't get any prejudice against demonologists from me, no sirree!"

"That's... nice," he said, and immediately felt like an idiot. Such a great contribution to the conversation, Thomas!

"So anyway, I wanted to thank you all properly. Do you have anything to do on New Year's Eve? I know it's a bit last-minute to ask you now -  I mean it's already in three days, you probably already have plans and stuff... If so that's totally okay and I'll just invite you some other time, but I really hope you can come anyway because you're the guests of honour!" She beamed hopefully at him. "So, do you? Have plans?"

"Uh, I was just going to watch some movies with my friends -"

"That's okay, you can bring them too! The more the merrier, right? There's plenty of room!"

"Bring them where?" Thomas said.

"To the party, silly!" She deflated a bit. "That is, if you want to come. It's going to be a blast though. Best party ever."

"I'll um, I'll think about it? I have to ask first if it's okay to just change our plans from a night in to a night out, so..."

"Of course, of course! Oh - and can you let your other friends know they're invited too? The two from the cellar I mean?"

"Adams and Tyrone? Sure, I can let them know. I'll call them right away."

"Great! Here's my number, let me know if you guys are coming and how many people you're bringing, okay? Gosh I'm so glad I just bumped into you! It must be fate or something. Call me!"

* * *

 

"HELL YES!" was Maria's reply. "An actual party with dancing and drinks and loud music? Sign me up! I'm going stir crazy here - the runic exam is literally sucking the life out of me, dude. Some mindless social interaction with people I don't know sounds like exactly what I need."

Tyrone's answer was ambiguous as ever: "I'll probably come, but it depends. Work can get pretty hectic during New Year's Eve."

Brad and Eduardo were spending their holiday breaks with their families. That left only one person to call.

"Hey, um, Adams? It's Thomas here. Thomas Strange."

"Yes? What is it?"

"I ran across Alice - that girl from the basement, you remember?"

"I remember."

"She wants to thank us all for saving her. She's invited us for a New Year's Eve party. If you don't have any plans yet -"

"Who else is going to be there?" she interrupted him.

"I'm not sure. A lot of people I don't know, probably. And Maria, Tyrone and me."

A pause. Had the connection broken?

"Adams?" he said. "Are you coming?"

Her tone of voice was more fitting for someone walking into a battlefield instead of someone going to a party. "... yes."

"Okay then. I'll let Alice know there's four of us and I'll text you the details. See you there, Adams."

* * *

 

She hated parties like these. Too loud, too crowded, the unpleasant odor of too much perfume and body spray mixed with sweat and spilled beers.

But on the upside, she could now observe Evergreen without being noticed.

If it _was_ Evergreen.

She had summoned the Dreambender only twice. It had been way too nerve-wracking, not to mention expensive. A whole freezer's worth of ice cream and meat each time, sheesh, she wasn't made of money. But the tutoring had been extremely useful, she had to admit. It was just too risky. He already owned one of her classmates' souls.

Talking about Evergreen... There was something _off_ about him. How he would smile, sometimes. Other little things, little mannerisms and quirks she had never noticed before but she remembered seeing on a demon's face.

Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe she was going crazy and imagining things. Maybe Alcor the Dreambender was a perfect impersonator and his Evergreen impression was just on point.

But she hadn't imagined that too-wide, familiar smile, during the summoning assignment. And the weird way Itpolec the Keeper acted during his conversation. Not to mention Evergreen himself, how relaxed and amused he'd been, even joking a bit -

_People are going to start wondering which one of us is the demon..._

\- if that _was_ a joke, and not a warning.

She took a sip from her cup of definitely alcoholic fruit punch. Across the room Evergreen and Strange were talking with the girl who'd invited them, Alice something. Or at least Alice was talking, making huge gestures with her arms for emphasis.

Evergreen seemed awkward, nodding his head to the beat of the music and fiddling with the cup in his hands. He was standing close to the wall, away from the dancing crowd.

"That your boyfriend?" a voice piped up next to Elisabeth.

She turned around, startled. "What? No!"

"Oh," the unknown boy said. He was smiling. "You want him to be?"

"God no!" Just the thought of it was enough to make her sick. Stars, she wasn't some crazy Twin Souls fanatic! "Why would you think that?"

A shrug. "You've been staring at him for the past half hour." He offered her his hand. "I'm Kurtis by the way."

"I'm Elisabeth," she said. "And for the record, I'm not staring. I'm... observing. For science."

"Okay," he laughed. "If you say so. I'm going to get a refill on my drink, you want one too?"

She shook her head and went back to observing. Damn it, Evergreen had noticed her. Did he just wink? She hurriedly averted her eyes. Busted.

The boy, Kurtis, came back. "So, Liz - can I call you Liz? - you're one of Alice's friends then? I don't recall seeing you around. I'm sure I would have noticed a girl like you before."

Wow. So subtle.

But still flattering. "I'm not really a friend. I just got invited as a thank-you."

"Wait - you're kidding! You're one of those students who saved Alice?" He blinked at her. "But you look so _normal_."

That was less flattering. Elisabeth frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You study demonology, right? You know," Kurtis said, waving his hand. "You didn't strike me as one of _those people_. You don't seem like the cultist type at all. Hey Jeanice, come over for a sec! This is Liz. Guess what she studies!"

Another girl came over, cheeks already flushed from alcohol. "No way," she said. "She's one of those demonologists Alice invited? So is it true you have to sacrifice a goat every week?"

"Or something bigger," Kurtis said. "Though I'm sure those rumours about human sacrifice are all untrue. No witnesses ever come forward anyway!" He laughed.

"We don't -" Elisabeth tried, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise. She took an annoyed drink from her cup, the spiked punch burning in her throat.

"You know, I considered studying demonology myself," the girl said. "I was way into Twin Souls when I was younger. Got together with other Twinners and we even tried to summon Alcor once, but we got a silly singing star instead."

"So how many demons have you summoned?" Kurtis asked. "What kind of deals have you made? I can't believe summoning is legal - no offence. Do they even bother giving you guys exams? You all have perfect memorisation skills and stuff, right? That's the first thing I would ask for if I got to summon a demon. You can just like, get all the knowledge you want, without having to study!"

"Only an idiot would think that," Elisabeth said coldly. "True, that's what demon deals are. Shortcuts, so you can get something without having to put in any effort yourself. Or at least it looks like that to amateurs like you. It's **_never_** for free and the price might be a lot higher than you think." Like Evergreen, a passenger in his body. Like those kidnappers, turned to gold and devoured before her very eyes.

 "You don't have to get all huffy about it," the girl said. "We're just curious."

Damn it, where had Evergreen gone? He wasn't standing near Strange anymore.

"Excuse me," Elisabeth said. "I need to go to the bathroom."

Where the hell did Evergreen go? He wasn't anywhere on the dance floor and she couldn't find him near the bar. Maybe he'd gone outside for a breath of fresh air?

"Looking for me?"

She nearly jumped. She hadn't been expecting him to be standing in a shadowy corner of the hallway.

The empty hallway. It was just the two of them. She and a possibly-possessed Evergreen. Maybe following him hadn't been such a smart idea.

"Of course not," she lied. "I was looking for the bathroom."

"Second door on the right," he said.

"Right," she said, and hurried away.

She splashed some cold water in her face to calm her nerves. When she returned he was still standing there, an unmoving shadow amongst other shadows.

"So, Evergreen," she said, "are you enjoying the party?"

"Please, call me Tyrone," he said. "We've been through so much together after all."

She wasn't going to give him her name. Never freely give a demon your name, even if it wasn't her full one.

"To answer your question, I do like the party."

"Then why are you standing all alone in the hallway?" she said.

Evergreen's flat, human teeth were bared in a smile. "But I'm not all alone. You are here, right?"

Even if she wasn't talking to a possible demon right now, she would have been creeped out.

"Great," she said. "Such fun." Was this Evergreen being his normal creepy self? Or was he being possessed right now? How could she know? Maybe she could trick him into slipping up...

She plastered a smile on her face and nodded at the cup in Evergreen's hands.

"Do you like the punch? It's such an original recipe. Who would have thought to put Yggdrasil in it?" She kept her eyes trained on Evergreen. "But of course, it's just another herb. Harmless... to humans."

He laughed. "There's no Yggdrasil in the punch, Adams."

"Are you sure?"

"It has a pretty distinctive taste and scent. Not something you'd use in a fruit punch."

"So you've tasted it before?"

He shrugged noncommittally and suddenly grinned. "You should be _glad_ there's no Yggdrasil in the punch. It's such a _special_ herb, especially for demonologists. Remember what Hicks said? It lowers demon's inhibitions, drives them to an animal-like state. Smoking it is bad enough, who knows what _drinking it_ would do. Could be very dangerous in the wrong hands." He took a long drink from his cup and added: "Just imagine the _horror_ if the punch really was spiked with Yggdrasil and a demon got to drink it."

"I wonder if a demon in a possessed body would still be affected," she said.

"That's a good question. Maybe you should write your thesis about it."

"But then I'd need someone to test it on. Do you know any possessed humans, Tyrone? _"_

"Nope, sorry," he said, face mild as milk. "Perhaps you could summon a demon to help you."

"I'd have to be extremely careful," she said. "Since the wrong wording could lead to _me_ being possessed."

"You'll have to be careful either way. Yggdrasil is dangerous." He poked her shoulder teasingly. She flinched.  "Wouldn't want you to get eaten!"

"Maybe I should pick a different thesis topic then," she said, rubbing the spot on her shoulder where he'd touched her. "Or I could just summon a knowledge demon to give me the answer, no test subject necessary. Would that be difficult, _Tyrone_? How much would they charge?"

"Depends on which demon," Evergreen said, grinning like a loon. "Alcor can usually be persuaded with snacks."

"Alcor overcharges," she said, narrowing her eyes.

"Really? You've summoned him before then, Adams?" His eyes were glinting - he was toying with her, so hard. She knew it. She bloody well _knew it_ but in their little game of words he hadn't slipped up yet, so she couldn't be _completely_ sure.

But she knew it, no proof necessary. **This was Alcor**. He _must_ be. Right? He hadn't said anything to outright incriminate him as a demon, not exactly, but **_he had to be_**.

"Maybe," she said. "Haven't you, Tyrone?" Just a friendly conversation between classmates...

He drained his cup. The red punch stained his teeth while he smiled at her. "Now that would be telling."

Did Tyrone Evergreen even exist? Was he just a stupid kid who got tricked into being Alcor's meatsuit? Or was he just a made-up name for the Dreambender himself, powerful enough to take on a physical human form without using another's body?

Option A meant there was some kid who had been possessed on-and-off for who knows how long. It was the sad truth that a lot of summoning information was available online where every amateur could get at it, even kids. Maybe Evergreen hadn't truly been Evergreen for a long while.

Option B... She didn't want to consider option B. The mere idea that a demon could _do that_ , just hide amongst humans without needing a real body... It was a chilling thought.

Either option still meant the Dreambender had been taking human form _to attend university_ and she couldn't fathom a reason why an near-omniscient demon would ever willingly do such a thing, but the _why_ wasn't important here. The _how_ was. Because she might not like Evergreen - had she even really met him or had it been Alcor all the time? - but fixing bad deals was her job, damn it. It was the whole reason she'd gone into Applied Demonology. There might be a stupid boy who needed the help of a professional demonologist and _she couldn't tell anyone else about it._

A whirlwind passed through the hallway. Or at least Dewitt did, her arms full of candles, being trailed by a boy with writing utensils and what looked like half a kitchen's supply of dried herbs.

"Hey Maria!" Evergreen called out, and Dewitt stopped in her mad rush.

"Tyrooooone!" she said, eyes bright. "Just the person I was looking for! Come on dude, we've been _challenged!_ "

Oh boy. Someone had been drinking a bit too much punch, apparently.

"Challenged?" Evergreen said.

"We're totally going to summon a demon," the unknown boy said. "This is so exciting! Come on, everyone's waiting!"

"Er, Maria? Have you thought this through?"

Dewitt made a nonchalant gesture. "It'll be fine! I'll just reuse the wording and stuff from my class assignment. Don't worry so much, I can do this!"

"I know you can, but I'm not sure if you _should_."

Elisabeth met Evergreen's gaze. "Why not?" she said. "Are you scared of a little summoning?"

She turned to Dewitt. "I think it's a great idea. But why use your class assignment? You should summon Alcor the Dreambender. He's known for being laid-back with amateurs, right? And you already have plenty of candy here to use as a sacrifice."

Evergreen narrowed his eyes at her. Elisabeth smiled innocently.

Let them summon the Dreambender. She would keep an eye on Evergreen and if he _was_ possessed, he should snap out of it during the summoning, right? It was very unlikely that Alcor could both possess him _and_ answer the summons.

If Evergreen collapsed, or started acting differently during the summoning, she would know enough. She just hoped they wouldn't get the infamous Answering Machine.

"That's a great idea!" Dewitt said. She deflated a bit, candles raining down from her arms. "That is, if you're okay with that,Tyrone? I know you have your thing with Alcor -"

"It's fine," Evergreen said. His words were meant for Dewitt but his eyes were fixed on Elisabeth. "Please, summon Alcor."

"I hope he shows up," Elisabeth said, stubbornly _not_ averting her eyes. "It would be a shame if we got the Answering Machine."

"You'll just have to keep trying then," Evergreen said. "I'm sure he'll show up eventually."

Dewitt had collected all the candles again and coughed awkwardly. "Oookay, you two have this whole intense thing going on here, so I'm just like, going to go? Meet us in the laundry room if you want to see the summoning!"

"We'll be there," Elisabeth said. "Won't we, Tyrone?"

He grinned at her. Demons liked getting challenged, didn't they? But this was one challenge she was going to win, damn it. After tonight she would know _for sure_ what the hell was going on with Evergreen.

* * *

 

The party was fun for the novelty value, at first. Demonology students didn't get invited often - or at all - and big parties like this were unknown territory for Thomas. So many people...

He'd stuck with Alice, since she seemed to know _everyone_ and she could keep up a whole dialogue all by herself if necessary. Thomas only had to add an occasional assenting murmur or 'no, really?' and tadaah, conversation happened, easy as anything.

He wondered where his friends were. The last he had seen of Maria she'd been dancing in the crowd, but that was more than an hour ago. Tyrone had disappeared a bit after.

Such great friends. Abandoning him like that.

"I'm going to check on the pizza. Want a slice?" Alice asked.

"Sure, thanks," he said. "What kind is it?"

"Cheese-crust margarita and four seasons, I think."

Cheese-crust pizza. That could explain where Maria was.

"I'll go," Thomas offered. "In the kitchen, right? I'll be right back."

"A slice of margarita for me please, if they're ready."

The pizza was still in the oven and there was no sign of Maria anywhere in the kitchen. Where could she be?

"It wasn't ready yet," he said to Alice, returning empty-handed.

"That's okay," she said. "I just heard there's something going on in the laundry room." She smiled at him. "Wanna check it out?"

This wasn't a ruse to get some alone time with him, right? She was nice, really, but... well...

She led him to a room with a washing machine. A folding table and a couple of laundry baskets were shoved against the walls. But that wasn't the first thing Thomas noticed.

At least now he knew where Maria and Tyrone were.

There was a summoning circle drawn on the floor. Maria was lighting the candles. At least eight people were hanging around, watching with varying amounts of excitement and fear. Adams and Tyrone stood to the side, intently gazing into eachother's eyes for some reason.

"What, exactly, is going on here?" Thomas said, loud enough to be heard over the chattering.

The anger must have been apparent in his voice, because now everyone fell silent, looking at him.

"Please explain," Thomas said. "Because this can't be what it looks like. Neither of you is _stupid_ enough to perform a summoning without any proper preparation, in the presence of so many innocent bystanders. Right?"

"Um," Maria said. "It's not as bad as it looks like. We're just summoning Alcor. As a demonstration, you know. Amateurs summon him all the time."

Thomas snapped. "Seriously Maria? Summoning demons is not a _party trick_! That's like, the _first_ rule of demonology!"

"No it isn't, the first rule is -"

"Not now, Adams!"

Adams shut up.

"Besides, how much have you been drinking?" Thomas asked Maria. "You don't have a clear head! Do you want to lose your soul or something? Whose bright idea was this?"

A tense silence.

"Thomas is right," Alice said, her voice subdued. "This is dangerous. I can't believe you guys would try this. You know what happened to me, to us." She shook her head, her eyes wide and shocked, and fled the room.

"Oh man," one of the unknown guys said. "We made Alice cry."

"She wasn't crying... was she?"

"She was."

"I'm sorry," Maria said. She blew out the nearest candle. "You're right. This was a bad idea. I just - they asked - and it seemed easy..."

"You know better," Thomas said. Sorry wasn't going to cut it. This was the kind of stupidity he didn't expect from a fourth year demonology student, damn it. "And you two, Tyrone, Adams! You were seriously just going to stand there and let this happen? "

"You don't need to yell," Adams said quietly. "I get it."

"You were going to summon Alcor the Dreambender," Thomas said. He recognized the symbols in the circle. "While drunk. Without any prepared script. In a _freaking laundry room_." He looked at Tyrone. "In what universe did that seem like a fun way to spend New Year's Eve?"

"We'll clean this up," Maria promised. "Right away."

"We'd better," Thomas said darkly. "Before something gets through accidentally and _eats_ us all."

* * *

 

"I'm really sorry," Tyrone said, as they walked through the dark city after depositing a sleepy Maria in her dorm room. Some late fireworks bloomed overhead, hailing in the new year.

"It's not okay," Thomas said. "This could have ended very badly. We've reached the point where 'sorry, I got carried away' is no longer accepted as an excuse."

"Yeah. I know. Sorry."

"Repeating it won't help either." Damn it, he didn't want to argue or fight but they'd been so stupid!

"In my defence, I did try to talk Maria out of it," Tyrone said.

Thomas raised a brow. "Really? Tyrone, who can convince demons without breaking a sweat, didn't manage to stop a drunken Maria?"

"Well... okay, I didn't try very hard. Adams was egging me on."

"Please stop putting the blame on others. You are _all_ guilty, I agree, but I also know that you could have stopped that summoning anytime."

"You're right. Sorry."

"And what the hell is going on with you and Adams anyway?"

"It's... a long story."

Apparently it wasn't a story he was going to share.

They had reached Thomas his dorm building. He broke the silence with a sigh. "Fine. Well, this is my stop. Good luck with the midterms."

"Wait," Tyrone stopped him. He looked miserable. "Thomas... Are we okay?"

Thomas glanced away. "I don't know, dude," he said. "I know I shouldn't blame you for everything but right now I'm too tired and angry to think straight. We'll talk later."

He left Tyrone behind on the sidewalk in the stinging January cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really can't let them just be happy, can I?
> 
> Thank you all so much for your kudos and comments! 
> 
> Next chapter will be titled 'What We're Prepared To Do' and it's going to be a difficult one to write, I know that already. I want to get it juuuuust right. It might be a while, since I've got a busy week coming up.


	10. What You're Prepared To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... for good grades.  
> ... for family.  
> ... for friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a darker chapter. Next one will be more lighthearted, I promise.

Thomas put on the coffee machine. His first exam was in two days and he was looking forward to a quiet evening. Some light reading perhaps. He deserved a moment to relax after all that studying.

The banging on his door was not very relaxing.

He sighed and went to open it. It was Brad, with bags under his eyes and looking more disheveled than usual.

"I've done something horrible," he said. "I need your help. Please."

That... wasn't promising.

"You look like you haven't slept in days," Thomas said. He stepped aside. "Come in. Want some coffee?"

"I don't have time for coffee!"

"What's wrong?"

"I made a bad deal."

Of course. His friends couldn't get in normal trouble, no - they had to _get_ _kidnapped_ or _summon demons_. Thomas groaned. "Brad, please tell me you didn't."

"I did," Brad said, his eyes wild. "And it's worse than you think, dude."

The story came out in bits and pieces, Brad pacing up and down through the room. How he had been studying, but it wasn't going well and he just knew he was going to fail all his classes and he wouldn't get to graduate and his parents were going to be so disappointed - and somehow that moment of despair had translated in Brad's head to _hey, I can summon a demon and fix this all_. And he had decided to summon a knowledge demon.

"I figured, if Tyrone could do it, _I_ could, you know," Brad said miserably. "And I really thought it out! But the demon didn't agree to my offer."

Instead of the freshly slaughtered veal, she had wanted something else.

"Something small and precious," Brad said. "Something I was emotionally attached to. And she pointed at the picture frame on my desk - the one of me and my sis, from the vacation to Kroatia we took a few years ago."

Thomas could see where this was going and cringed.

"It was just a picture! I could give a picture in return for help with my exams. Right? Seemed like a good deal." Brad clenched his fists. "So I agreed. Even thought I was clever - I added she had to fulfill her end of the deal first. So she won't collect until after I've passed all my midterms."

"What, exactly, will she be collecting?" Thomas asked quietly.

Brad pulled a picture from his coat. The edges were a bit scuffed from being inside his pocket. It was one of those vacation photos made by professional tourist trappers, those who put a colourful bird on your arm and snapped a picture they would sell to you for ten times what it was worth. In this case the bird was some smaller subspecies of phoenix.  Brad's little sister was glowing with happiness, Brad's arm loosely around her shoulders as the phoenix crawled over the fire-resistent gloves.

"I got the bright idea to copy it before the demon would show up," Brad said. "So I took it out of its frame and then... Then I saw this."

He flipped the picture.

_'Best vacation ever! Don't forget your precious little sis when you go off to college bro! xXx, Charlie'_

Silence.

"She's going to take your sister," Thomas said. "Brad. You traded your sister for good grades."

"I know!"

"You should tell Hicks."

"Are you crazy?" Brad's eyes went wide. "I can't tell anyone - this counts as cheating, I won't be allowed to graduate! I would get expelled!"

"Getting expelled or letting your sister get eaten by a demon - it seems like an easy choice to make! "

"I know! _I know_ ," Brad moaned. He dropped down in the chair. "You're right. But - there's still time! That's why I came to you. And if this doesn't work then _of course_ I'll go to Hicks, but - please, can't you just help me? Please, Thomas? We're nearly graduated anyway and you're the best in class. Please. I can't do this alone."

He should say no. He should go to Hicks, let the professionals fix this. Yes, Brad would probably end up being expelled for this. But he kinda deserved it! Summoning a demon for personal gain? To cheat on his exams? _Trading away his freaking sister?_

But it was an obvious mistake. Well, at least the whole trading-siblings was.

Maybe they could fix it. The deal wasn't completely final until both participants had fulfilled their ends, which hadn't happened yet. There was still a chance they could annul it. He hoped.

"Fine," Thomas said. "I'll help you. But I want to know the exact wording of this deal you made, Brad."

* * *

 

Vhassea the Skilled was her name, and the illustration in their demonology course book was very... curvy. Also, she was apparently not high level enough to manifest many clothes.

Thomas stared at the tanned skin on display and turned a stern gaze to Brad.

"Dude. Did you summon a succubus?"

Brad's cheeks reddened. "No, of course I didn't, sheesh. She's an actual knowledge demon!"

"She doesn't _look_ like a knowledge demon."

"Demons can shapeshift you know."

"I'm just wondering about your motivation to select _this one_ out of the whole list of easier summons."

"I had my reasons. Look, she's very susceptible to banishing circles. That makes her a pretty safe summons. If she's making trouble - we just banish her back to the mindscape or whatever."

True. That was also the only reason Thomas had agreed to Brad's insane request they perform the summoning tonight. A few hours was honestly _not_ enough preparation. Thomas had hoped for at least a week, but that would leave Hicks with a lot less time to do something if they failed. Vhassea was easy to banish, so the odds of them dying at this summoning were rather low. As long as no one said or did something stupid.

They were going to do it in the demonology lab. Just to be sure. Those failsafes could be useful... But he really hoped it wouldn't come to that. Having to evacuate the whole university campus was not something he wanted to have to explain.

The summoning and binding circles had been looked up by Brad already, they could just use those again. That left the banishing array - they were going to strenghten the standard one Brad had used - and, the most important part, the wording.

"We need to call Tyrone," Thomas said.

Brad hesitated. "Tyrone kinda flubbed his practical, dude. Sure, let's call him to help with the wording. But... Not the actual summoning."

"No, I'll do the actual summoning. And you're going to let _me_ do the talking, alright?" Brad had admitted he hadn't slept in days. Thomas wasn't going to let him screw this up. "But we should get Tyrone. He's the best at twisting a deal and spotting loopholes."

So they called Tyrone.

"You've reached the voicemail of Tyrone Evergreen. I'm busy right now, but I'll get back to you s͔͔͓o̪͔͎ò͈̪n̗̳̜͇͓̳͔͘. Please leave a message after the scream!"

“Cool voice effect,” Brad said, while a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the speaker. “I had a toy voice changer as a kid, but it barely worked.”

“I used to have my voicemail say ‘ _who has summoned Thomas the Strange?_ ’ in the most distorting demon voice emulator I could find online,” Thomas admitted. “I never got many messages for some reason. Only from grandma.”

They left a message for Tyrone, explaining what they were going to do and asking him to call back as soon as he could.

They got to work.

Eventually it was half past eleven at night and they were ready to leave. Tyrone hadn’t called back yet.

“Well, I guess it’s just going to be the two of us,” Brad said. “You ready to break into an university building?”

Thomas sighed.

* * *

 

Sneaking into the demonology lab had been surprisingly easy. Maybe they had some luck on their side after all.

The circles were ready. The wording was - well, it was as good as it was going to get, with only five hours to prepare.

After this, Thomas vowed, if any of his friends even _suggested_ summoning a demon outside of class he would throw the thousand-page _An Abbreviated Guide To Demons_ course book at their heads.

"Ready?" Brad asked.

Thomas took a deep breath and nodded.

Vhassea the Skilled, the One of Many Talents and Gifts, arrived in a cloud of buzzing dust. When the sand particles settled they revealed the - well, _revealing_ shape of a woman, definitely a woman, every inch of her exposed skin gleaming as if she'd been freshly oiled. The blackish ooze coating her legs from the knees down didn't detract much from her appearance. No one was looking at her knees after all.

Easy to banish, sure, that was the _only_ reason Brad had picked her.

He should have known better, really. A demon that looked like this was obviously a deciever.

"Well well well, isn't that a f͡a͢ḿi̛ļiar͟ face," Vhassea the Skilled said, only the slightest demonic reverb in her voice. She blinked slowly. Her eyes were indigo pools from edge to edge, dark and endless. "Did you want to make another deal, sweetheart? And you brought a friend. How ḓ̭͓̮͉eli̦̠g͈̮̩h͇͈t̞͉̻̮̪fu͔̞̬̮͎̹l̤̰̥̺!"

"We have summoned you concerning the deal you made with Brad," Thomas said. "We wish to change the terms."

"Oh, I'm afraid that won't be possible, darling," the demon said. "Don't waste your breath. That deal is final and will soon be c͇o̳m̦̫͙p̖̼̹͓l͔̹̲̜e̜̜̗̲t̘̣ẹ̖l̼̖y̥̪̺ ͉̙̲̩f̤̗̫ṳ͍͉l͈̮̰̯̰fi̺l͈͚͚̱̲le͚͈d."

"Not necessarily," Thomas said. "It is only truly final if both parties have fulfilled their terms. Brad can decide not to take his midterms at all. If he does this, you cannot collect. It is in your best interest to broker different terms."

"You must think you're very clęv͝e͢r͘." Vhassea seemed unconcerned. "No one can willfully prevent little Brad from completing his midterms. That was one clause of our deal. 'No one' does include _h͎̣̮̮i͉͔̺m͖̟̖s̺͙͈̙̥̹el͍̠̭f̞_."

Brad groaned. Thomas glared. Seriously, Brad, that wasn't something you should just forget to mention!

"I didn't want her to screw me over and prevent me from doing my midterms, so she'd get the picture for free," Brad said. "You know Hicks always says to add clauses against loopholes."

"Fine, that's one road blocked," Thomas said. He turned back to the amused demon. "The deal implied Brad would be the top student," he argued. "Since there's at least one student whose knowledge surpasses his, you failed to hold up your end and we have the right to declare it null and void."

"I implied no such thing." Vhassea laughed, smooth and poisonous. "Don't bother, little boys," she said. "You have not called me to make a deal. You have called me to complain. So sorry, customer service lines are C̹̻̣L̴̷̙͉̹̱̥O̦̜̭̤̦̼͞ͅS̞̮̞̫̮̦̫̺͝E̖̻͎͈͉͇͕D҉̬̖̺͇̤́͟."

"We have summoned you in a binding circle," Thomas said. "You will at least _listen_ to what we have to say."

"Why should I, when I already have exactly what I want? You cannot force me, darling. I will not trade my prize for a lesser one. No backsies! A̩̣̼͈̗̗ ̞̳͈̺̮̭͙͜D̶͍Ḛ̩̘A͉̩͓̲̗͜ͅL̶ IS̮͈̗̗̤ ̜͢Ạ̘̪ ̴̳͙̙̺̠̭̪D̺̭̳̹Ȩ̲̹͕͖̻̣͙A̤̫̬͔̟̗L̠̯͕."

"Then we'll make a different deal!" Brad said. "A better one!"

Thomas wanted to hit him. Brad was breaking so many rules - don't show your desperation, decide beforehand exactly what you're prepared to offer and who will do the talking and _keep to it_ , damn it!

"Really? What will you offer, sweetheart?" the demon purred, her skin rippling for a moment as something seemed to move underneath. "You͟r͜sèl̛f, perhaps?"

"Don't answer that," Thomas snapped, before Brad could do more than open his mouth.

Vhassea laughed again. "It does not matter. I will accept no substitutes, no brotherly sacrifice." Her eyes were fixed on Brad, shining with unholy glee. "I will take your sẃee̢t͠ litt͟l͡e͠ ͞s͘ister, boy, and I will strip the flesh from her bones and su͢ck out ̷t͝h͝e ͡m͡a̛rrow͡. I will cherish each scream and wail - and she _will_ scream, awake and aware of every morsel I'll rip from her tender flesh."

Brad seemed boneless, pale as death and swaying on his feet.

"And then, when her cries have gone cold and her blood clotted, I will grasp the struggling soul before it can flee and I will D̘̖̞͔̼̠̬E̙̼͈̾̿̚V͇͇̥̰̟̝O̗͉̺̟̻͛U̦͂̌̂R͕̭̝̙ͫͫ̽̃ ͓͙̻̪͑ͬͯ̓̌̎͂İ̦͎͇̆T͉̀͆, trapping it in a hell for a thousand years while I leech its ever-fading strenght." A slow, horrible smile. "And there is nothing you can do to stop me, sweetheart. After all... she is M̦̙̱̫ͦ̃͒͗̊̊I̗̤͚̥̗̪ͤ̏̿ͩ̎N̮͑̓E̊̿ͤ͐̆. You traded her away yourself."

"No," Brad said, barely even a whisper. "No, please -"

Thomas had enough. He hit the first button and the grooves slid into the floor, completing the pre-carved binding circle Hicks used for emergencies. A quick needle sting later and the circle flared white, activating.

It only made the demon laugh. "What, exactly, do you wish to accomplish by this?" she asked. "You can hold me here for hours but you cannot make me change my mind."

" _Now_ , Brad," Thomas said, and a shaking Brad slid the knife against his skin and touched a bloody handpalm to the outer circle. Chains snapped to life, curling up from the floor and twisting around the demon's wrists.

"Silly boys," she said. "You would da̷re try͏ to e̸n̕s̷lav̕e҉ ͝m͠e? I can get out of these measly chains in five minutes!"

"That's okay," Thomas said, his heart hammering like mad. "Five minutes is all we need."

And he slammed the middle button.

Water rained down from the sprinklers.

Bound by circles and chains, Vhassea could not flee as full-strenght holy water drenched the room, its effect not unlike a strong acid. Sparks burst from her skin where the water made contact, red and gold and _bright_. She screamed, a long tortured wail that petered out as her shape melted away into puddle of bubbling ooze.

After an eternity, the sprinklers stopped.

"Well," Thomas said, out of breath and soaked to the bone. "That happened."

"Dude," Brad said. He slid down the wall so he was sitting on the floor. He shook his head. " _Dude_."

They stared at the remains of Vhassea the Skilled.

There was a long, long silence.

The door slammed open.

"I came as fast as I could _please_ tell me you haven't started yet!"

Thomas turned around just as Tyrone stormed inside, pale and worried - and he could see Tyrone _flinch_ as he skidded through a puddle, golden sparks jumping from the soles of his shoes for one blink-and-you'll-miss-it second.

Oh.

Oh **no**.

Brad hadn't seen it. Or else he wouldn't be talking right now - explaining to Tyrone what had happened, what they'd done, and if he could please not tell anyone about this and good job showing up when it's all over, you should have seen Thomas dude, he was ice-cold!

Tyrone was listening to Brad's words, but his eyes kept flitting over to Thomas.

"I'm sorry I was late. There was a thing at work," he said, when Brad stopped talking. "I came as soon as I heard your message. You guys have no idea how lucky you've been."

"Dude, if luck was a finite resource, I've just used up my life's supply," Brad said. "I know. Stars, I'm an _idiot_ aren't I? Thomas - you're awesome dude. Best friend ever. You totally saved my hide today. And my little sis, and my soul and _everything_. Anything you want - just ask, anytime. I owe you big."

He gave Thomas a strangling bear hug and Thomas felt him shiver, adrenaline and terror and utter _relief_ presenting their bills to his body.

He patted Brad on his back until he could breathe again. "That's what friends do, right? Help eachother out. You don't owe me anything. It's making vague promises like that what got you into this mess, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Brad said, grinning. If the wetness on his face wasn't all from their impromptu shower, Thomas was considerate enough to not mention it. "I'm not crazy enough to promise a _demon_ 'anything'. I'm not that stupid. But I can promise _you_. Whatever you want man. You need a favour, I'll be there."

"Lucky I'm not a demon," Thomas said. In the corner of his eye he saw Tyrone flinch again. "Tyrone and I will clean this up, okay? You go home."

"Nah, this is my mess, I should at least help -"

"It's okay," Tyrone said. "Thomas is right, you're shaking too much to be any help anyway. We've got this."

Brad seemed indecisive. "Are you sure?"

"You haven't slept in three days, Brad," Thomas said. "Go on. We're sure."

Brad didn't need much more persuasion.

Thomas watched him leave. Good. He hadn't seen anything - if this was going to end badly at least Brad would be safe.

That left Thomas alone with Tyrone. Or something that looked like Tyrone anyway.

No.

Thomas _knew_ his friend. He'd always been weird - he hadn't _changed_. This person standing in front of him, carefully avoiding the occasional drips from the ceiling sprinklers, was the same person who he'd done so many group assignments with. Who regularly lost at Amazing Luigi Party Bros against Brad. Who had once attempted a burping concert with Eduardo and Maria (he still had the recording, for blackmail purposes one day).

This was Tyrone Evergreen, his classmate, his friend.

But he was also something else.

Even a low-level demon could ruin your life. They had literally _just_ been reminded of that. And while Thomas couldn't be certain, not yet - there was only one demon whose name constantly popped up around Tyrone, wasn't there?

"So," Thomas broke the silence, and stopped. His mind was frighteningly clear. After the terror of Vhassea and her threats... he was too tired to be properly afraid.

Should he be afraid?

"So," Tyrone repeated, awkwardly. "Uh. You saw. Didn't you?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

Thomas gestured to the puddles of holy water. "The water. If it touches you."

"Oh. Yeah, it does." Tyrone rubbed the back of his head. His eyes glanced at the three buttons in the wall, still so tantalizingly near Thomas. Would there still be holy water left in the reservoir? Probably. Hicks was nothing if not prepared. "Look, I understand if you're scared. Just... please let me explain?"

"Do you plan to hurt one of us? Eddy or Maria or - or _anyone_ of our group?"

Tyrone's eyes widened. "No, of course not! I swear. I'm not -"

"Okay."

"- really - wait, what?"

Thomas took a shaky breath. "I said 'okay'. I believe you."

Tyrone blinked. "You do? Wow. You're uh, very accepting all of a sudden."

"Don't get me wrong," Thomas said. He felt like he was being swept up by the wind, the ground falling away as he made up his mind. "I'll probably freak out as soon as I get a moment to think about it. **Apparently my best friend is a demon.** That's not something I can just shrug off! And maybe I'm being naive and stupid when I think you won't hurt us and that you mean well, maybe this is all some trick and it'll all end with blood and death - but _damn it_ , Tyrone, I've known you for four years and you're weird and creepy and a total dork and you've helped me out _so many times_. I can't - _won't_ believe that was all an act. Why would a demon bother befriending a bunch of losers like us?" He breathed in, deeply, and something inside him unclenched. "I'm going to believe you. I'm willing to take that chance. And I'm going to be _way mad_ if you do end up killing and eating me, just so you know."

Something gold glinted in Tyrone's eyes.

The pungent goo that was all what was left of Vhassea the Skilled twitched.

That was all the warning Thomas got because the remains were already rising up, reaching with long and murderous claws for the human who'd _dared_ to try to kill a demon -

 

" **T̏ͨͭ͛h̎̄ă̂͂͑́̑t͆ͥ̚'̓̉s ̇̑̔̒m͊ͨ͂y̌̅͒͋ͮ̎̏ ̑ͬ̇͒͐ F́̒̏̎ͫͮͭ̚R̿ͪ͑̋̚Í̓̒͑ͤ͒̇͌͆ͨ͗͛̓ͯͫE͆ͨͤ̐̒ͣ͑̒͌N̎̂͐͗̾̾̆͑͑̒Ḋ͑ͬͫ͌̂͑͌ͭͩ͌ͤ̿ͦ** ," Tyrone said, slamming a foot down on the slimy mass. It screeched, the ooze bursting open and emitting a viscous fluid that seeped into the floor. Then it stopped moving.

Thomas stared.

Tyrone stared back.

"You, um. Have something on your shoe," Thomas said.

"Huh? Ah man, that's just _yergh._ " Tyrone pulled a face and snapped his fingers. His shoes were suddenly squeaky clean again. The remains of Vhassea disappeared too, devoured by a blue flame.

Thomas swallowed. Yup. No denying what he'd seen. It was one thing to see some stray gold sparks as Tyrone reacted to the holy water - this was actual demon magic.

No wonder Tyrone was top of their class.

Thomas started to laugh and found he couldn't stop, tears streaming down his face and his cheeks hurting. He had to calm down, this couldn't be healthy but stars, this was so messed up!

"Deep breaths," Tyrone said, as Thomas laughed and laughed. "This is normal. Just... deep breaths." He made an aborted movement, as if he wanted to pat Thomas on the back but didn't dare. His face was concerned.

A demon. Afraid of hurting his feelings. Trying to calm him down.

This was not what Thomas had in mind when he started studying demonology, that's for sure.

Stars, he was exhausted.

He wiped his face. Good job, Thomas. Hysterics in front of your demon friend. Not embarrassing at all.

"Feeling better?" Tyrone asked.

"Somewhat," Thomas said. "So. Um. You're actually Alcor. Aren't you?"

"Yep."

"You're not like... possessing the real Tyrone Evergreen, I hope?"

"Nope." Tyrone - Alcor - stars this was going to take some getting used to - _Alcor_ tapped a pensive finger against his chin. "Why does everyone think that? Tyrone Evergreen is completely made up. Really, get some paperwork in order and no one bothers to check, right?"

"Who is 'everyone'?" Thomas had to ask. Did other people know about this?

"Well, Adams found out - she's been summoning me a few times and connected the dots. But she is convinced I'm a poor possessed kid she needs to save. Man, I'm having so much fun with her! And Hicks sort of found out, but he won't remember because for a professional demonologist he really didn't think his deal through enough, so I get to take every memory he has connecting me and 'Tyrone'. Good times."

"Right," Thomas said. All this talk about possession and deals and eating memories... It was a bit disconcerting to say the least. At least Tyrone was being honest for once.

"So you're actually the first person who really knows," Tyrone said. "Neat, huh?"

"I'm not sure if neat is the word for it - can I ask what you're planning?"

"I just want to graduate. No evil plots, sorry to disappoint."

"That's nice, but - seriously Tyrone, why?" Thomas waved his hand vaguely, trying to encompass all the questions drumming in his head. "Just, _why?_ "

"The whole pretending-to-be-a-student thing?" Tyrone - except he wasn't - blinked at him. "It seemed like a fun thing to do."

"Fun? A grueling study course with practical labs that could end up getting you killed, and you call it 'fun'?" Thomas frowned. "But you already know everything, being semi-omniscient and all. And no demon is going to kill _you_. So I guess it _is_ just a relaxed way to spend time for you. Huh."

Wait.

"So that's why you kept saying everything was going to be alright," Thomas said. "The basement, the kidnapping - you really could have stopped it anytime!"

Tyrone grimaced. "I did apologize afterwards," he said. "But yes. In hindsight I really should have. I know. It's just, I didn't want to break my cover."

They were going to have to talk about this. That basement had left a big impression on Thomas, and just the thought that he hadn't been in any danger after all... He didn't know how to feel about that.

Well. Apparantly he'd been hanging with Alcor the Dreambender as his buddy for years. Thinking about danger only made his head hurt right now.

He was silent for a long moment. "You _did_ save us. In an unnecessary convoluted way, I suppose, but still." He glanced at the mess he'd made of the summoning lab. "It wasn't nice to see those kidnappers being eaten away, but complaining about that is probably hypocritical at this point. I did just melt a demon."

"You sure did!" Tyrone said. "Congratulations by the way."

"You're not mad about that?"

"Why would I be? She made a bad deal with Brad. Now I don't have to hunt her down."

Apparently the books were right about one thing at least. Demons didn't care much for one another.

"Right," Thomas said. He coughed. His clothes, still drenched by his holy shower, clung to his body and made him shiver. Or maybe that was the exhaustion. "So when are you going to tell the others?"

Tyrone looked sheepish. "Do I have to? I was hoping to put that off until, you know, graduation day at least."

"They're your friends too."

"True. But you've got to admit it's a bit of a shock. Give me some time to think about a way to ease them into it."

Ease them into accepting their friend was actually Alcor the Dreambender.

"Give me some warning before you do," Thomas said. "I'll stock up on hard liquor."

"Very funny."

"Was I joking?"

They fell silent. The sprinklers still dripped occasionally. The chalk on the floor was mostly wiped away, but some had run into the grooves of the pre-carved binding circles. The slimy remains of Vhassea were gone, but their stench still lingered in the air.

"Want me to clean this up, so Hicks won't find out?" Tyrone offered. "I'll do it for, let's think, a bag of W&W's. The ones with the nuts. I know you have some in your backpack."

_Pay attention to everything that is said, watch out for every possible loophole_ \- oh to hell with it.

"Sure," Thomas said, and took Tyrone's hand. "Um. Deal."

As flames danced over their clasped hands, Tyrone grinned. It was wide and gleeful and teasing. It was a demon's smile.

It was also Tyrone's smile, and Thomas was strangely okay with that.

* * *

 

The panic attack came later on, around five o'clock in the morning. And Tyrone popping up in his bedroom with a cheery "Do you want me to eat your nightmares?" did not help _at all_.

**"WHAT THE _FUCK,_ TYRONE!"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was supposed to be fun and lighthearted, what happened? Where did all this drama come from?
> 
> This was always the way I wanted Thomas to find out - by dumb coincidence.


	11. Thomas the Strange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What are these?"  
> Thomas glanced up. He recognised the papers Maria had dug out of the box.  
> "My old character sheets," Thomas said. "Heh. Those bring back memories." Summers spent with his cousin, ignoring the sunny outdoors in favour of holing up inside with a set of dice, imagining great forests and dank caves and grand adventures.  
> Maria leafed through the stack of papers and laughed. "Dude, did you roleplay as a demon? Thomas the Strange, Scourge of Irrational Numbers!"  
> Oh, right. That.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My inner geek wrote this chapter. So expect a lot of DD&MD. 8000+ words of it. God I need sleep.
> 
> This fic has art now! And it's amazing!  
> http://blueteam.co.vu/post/144936296838/so-i-may-or-may-not-have-a-small-obsession-with  
> http://avespecora.tumblr.com/post/144864870589/will-i-one-day-do-a-nicely-done-and-finished
> 
> HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU GUYS?

His hand was cramping from writing too much. Thomas studied best by recapping his class notes and maybe it was old-fashioned to do it by hand, but it worked for him. As if writing it down on the page uploaded it all into his brain or something. The downside came halfway through the midterms, when his hand started to feel like a troll had used it for tapdancing practice.

Of course recapping his notes was a lot easier if he could actually _find_ those notes.

"Have you seen my Runecrafting notes somewhere? I'm missing the ones from our last class."

Tyrone had been hanging around Thomas' dorm a lot since the whole reveal. He had abandoned all pretense of studying and was lazing around on the couch.

Things had been... surprisingly normal, actually. Thomas had expected a lot more, well, obvious demony-ness. It almost felt like nothing had changed at all.

At Thomas' question Tyrone opened his eyes. "Might have seen them around. Hey, you got any more of those sour gummy bears?"

"Sure." Thomas got up to root through his snack drawer. When he returned Tyrone was waving around his notes. He didn't seem to have gotten up from the couch.

"Thanks man," Thomas said, exchanging the notes for the bag of sweets. Runecrafting was impossible without decent note-taking and he'd hate to have to borrow someone else's -

Wait.

"You always do this," he realised. Whenever they asked Tyrone to join their study group or to help with an assignment, he would ask if there would be snacks or something like that. It had seemed like a joke at the time - Tyrone's stomach is a bottomless pit - but in hindsight... "You've been making sneaky little deals with us!"

"No no _no_ ," Tyrone hurried to say, sitting up on the couch. "Not _actual_ deals. Nothing formal. Both sides need to _know_ they're making some kind of deal - really, after four years of study you should know that, Thomas."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Way to jump to conclusions, Thomas! Finding out your best friend is a demon is no reason to become paranoid.

"But I'll admit I do try to keep favours balanced," Tyrone added, looking a bit embarrassed. "It's just one of those things."

"Can't help yourself, huh?"

"It's not like I'm taking stuff you need, you don't even _like_ these gummies," Tyrone said.

Thomas put on a solemn face. "Those gummies are sent to me by my grandmother. She passed away recently. They have so much emotional value now, they're worth more than a set of notes."

Tyrone stopped chewing, a gummy bear halfway to his mouth. "Really?"

"No. I'm just messing with you. My grandma is fine." Thomas grinned. "Aren't you omniscient anyway?"

" _Semi_ -omniscient. And it's not something I have turned on all the time," Tyrone said. "My mind is pretty flexible, but do you know how much useless knowledge there is? Imagine getting bombarded with stupid facts - like the average shoe size of gnomes, or what some random old woman in Belgium had for dinner or the entire history of slotted spoons- _all the freaking time_."

"Sounds horrible."

"It is."

"But on the upside, no need to study, right?"

Tyrone laughed. "That does come in handy right now."

"Should give you plenty of free time," Thomas said. "Maybe you could use that time to think about stuff. Like - just an example - a way to break it to the others that you're secretly a demon."

Tyrone groaned and hid his face in the couch pillows. "Do I really need to?"

"Tyrone - _Alcor_ ," Thomas corrected. "I get it. You're afraid of their reactions. No one can predict if they'll take it well, I know. So if you really don't want to tell them... I'll respect your decision. But I think you should give them a chance."

"You can keep calling me Tyrone, you know," Tyrone said. He turned so he was lying on his back again, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "I like being Tyrone."

"You don't have to stop being Tyrone, even if they do know," Thomas said. "And I think you do want to tell them." It was much better to be accepted as the person you truly are than as the person you pretend to be, right? "But you're afraid too much will change and things will never be the same again."

He could understand that fear. Stars, he did.

Tyrone rolled his eyes. "Are you a demonologist or a psychologist?"

"I'm a concerned friend," Thomas said. "And maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea, a psychologist for demons. I can think of a few who could use anger management therapy at least."

"Please don't attempt it," Tyrone said. "I would measure the life expectancy of a demon shrink in hours, if not minutes. Take it from me, omniscience and all."

"Noted." Thomas took a deep breath. "But seriously, Tyrone. What do you want to do? Keep this a secret for as long as possible? Or trust them? Just tell me, right now, and I'll stop nagging. Promise."

A long silence.

"... fine," Tyrone said. "I can think of a few ways to ease them into it. Should be easy, right? I'm Alcor! This is a tiny little human problem, nothing I can't handle! I can do this!"

"That's the spirit!" Thomas said. "When?"

Tyrone waved his hand. "Oh, you know, one of these days." He suddenly bolted upright, his eyes locked on the box Thomas used to prop up one leg of his wonky coffee table. "Hey, is that a set of DD&MD? I didn't know you played!"

"It's been a while," Thomas said. "Four years at least. Used to play every summer, with my cousin."

"What edition is this?" Tyrone snapped his fingers and the coffee table wobbled as the box disappeared, popping back into existence in his hands. "Oh wow, you got the one that's banned in five states for 'ruining the youth', because it allowed you to play as the villains instead of the heroes."

"Yep, that's the one," Thomas said. He took a book from his shelf - his Ethics course book, never going to need that one again - and put it under the table leg. There, now it was useful at least. "Never thought a demon would be into DD&MD."

Tyrone grinned. "Are you kidding? That's the best game ever! Man, I would love to play it again."

"Well... I might be able to convince the others to join in," Thomas said. "We could have a session. Maybe even start a longer campaign, an epic quest kind of thing. Eddy used to play too, I think - either he or I could be the Dungeon Master. Buuuut... in return I want you to tell them you're actually Alcor the Dreambender."

"Look at you, proposing deals without any prompting," Tyrone said. He popped one of the sour candies in his mouth, swallowed, and added: "Are you sure you can convince them? I don't think Brad or Maria have ever been into roleplaying games."

"I have my ways," Thomas said. "So. What do you say?"

"Sure! It's -"

"Wait! No shaking! I'm not done yet - we didn't specify a deadline." Thomas smiled. "You're not putting this off until who-knows-when."

"I wondered if you would catch that loophole," Tyrone said, amusement in his eyes. "Okay, what deadline did you have in mind?"

"How about: _after_ the midterms - they don't need the headache - and _before_ we start our roleplaying session?"

"That sounds fair," Tyrone said. "But let's amend it to 'before the _end_ of our first roleplaying session'. That way I can wait to tell them until I'm _sure_ you've come through on your part of the deal."

"Sheesh, Tyrone, don't you trust me?"

"Pssh, of course I do! I'm just helping you practice your demon deals. Details are important. Well, whaddaya say? You're still getting the advantage here. I'm sure you want to play DD&MD just as much as I do."

"I'm not going to confirm or deny that until we seal the deal," Thomas said. They shook hands and blue fire flashed. Thomas grinned. "But yes. Yes I do."

Tyrone laughed. "I should have asked for candy too," he said. "To even things out."

"Why bother? You raid my snack drawer anyway, deal or no deal."

"True," Tyrone admitted, popping another gummy in his mouth. "Why are you in such a hurry for me to tell them anyway?"

"They're your friends too," Thomas said. "And fine, I'll admit it. I suck at keeping secrets. Especially from friends. I just _know_ I'll slip up one day and blurt it out and it will probably be in the worst possible way and at the worst possible time and then they're going to be too scared or confused to think clearly and our friend group is going to be ruined."

"I could give you something similar to what I have going on with Adams," Tyrone offered. "If you're that worried about accidentally mentioning it. She literally _can't_ tell anyone who doesn't already know about me and 'Tyrone'. If she tries, I automatically eat her words before they can leave her mouth."

"No offense Tyrone, but that's creepy. We're not doing that."

Tyrone flopped back down on the couch, his feet dangling over the armrest. "Yeah, okay, sorry. Hey, do you happen to have another bag of these?"

"You know where the snack drawer is," Thomas said, and went back to his notes. Some of them did have to study. "Help yourself."

In hindsight, he really should have known better. But that realisation came after an avalance of empty candy wrappers, and at least Tyrone was nice enough to help clean those up.

* * *

 

Operation Save Evergreen had been put on hold for the duration of the midterms. That didn't mean Elisabeth was ignoring the demon in her classroom. No, she kept a very close eye on him...

It would be easier with some kind of back-up. If only she could tell someone! But the words didn't come, no matter how often she tried. Trying to write it down only made her hand freeze up.

For a moment she'd thought her attempt at conveying 'Evergreen possessed by Alcor please help' through Morse code had worked, but when she listened back to the recording she discovered she had actually tapped out some mysterious, vaguely threatening message.

_Disco girl coming through that girl is you._

She'd written down the terms of her deal with Alcor and read through them multiple times. There must be a loophole somewhere... There just had to be. Some kind of way to tell someone, anyone!

Then she'd tried to put it out of her mind, at least until her exams were done. She wouldn't give Alcor the satisfaction of ruining her grades, damn it!

It was during the written portion of the Contract Negotiation test that the answer came to her.

She couldn't tell anyone about the connection between Evergreen and Alcor, except someone who already knew. Seemed airtight, right? But the question was... how much did they have to know, to influence that part of her deal with Alcor? Only the fact there was some kind of connection? Or the whole and dreadful truth?

So she cornered Strange after the exam.

"We need to talk," she said, and dragged him into an empty classroom before he could leave. She shut the door behind them and leaned against it.

"Um..." Strange was looking at her oddly. "What's going on, Adams?"

"What exactly do you know about Evergreen and Alcor?"

He blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, but she saw how he fidgeted with the strap of his backpack. A lie.

He knew something. How much? It couldn't be the truth, right? He wouldn't still hang out with Evergreen if he knew, right?

Unless... he was in on it. Some kind of deal? Or worse.

If one demon could walk around campus undetected, why not two?

No, that was ridiculous. She was losing her mind. One demon was bad enough, she needed to focus on Evergreen. Strange was human, he must be.

"You're looking kinda scary, Adams," Strange said. "Um. Can you please step aside? I'd like to leave now."

"Tell me," she said. "I know about Evergreen and Alcor. And _I_ know _you_ know!"

"There's nothing going on with Tyrone and Alcor," Strange said. "Move aside please."

He wasn't going to talk. She could see the iron in his eyes. Whatever hold Alcor had on Strange, it wasn't one she could easily break.

She let him go.

Fine! She would think of something else. She didn't need him!

* * *

 

"Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons," Maria said. "Seriously? You want to play this?"

"Yes," Thomas said. "I really do."

They were at Eduardo's place, a few doors down from the Mangy Dog. Eduardo had run off as soon as he saw the DD&MD set and now returned with a bag of dice and a stack of graph paper, nearly bouncing with excitement.

"This looks complicated," Brad said, glancing through Volume One of the main rulebook.

"It's not complicated at all, dude!" Eduardo enthused. "You pick a class and race and then select a set of powers and whenever you want to do something you have to roll the dice to see if it succeeds."

"Huh. Doesn't _sound_ too difficult." Brad frowned. "But - no offense - this is such a geek game. So much _math_."

"Please?" Thomas said. "Just try it, one session."

He didn't add _'you owe me, Brad'_ but it was very much implied.

"Fine. One session," Brad said. "You're going to have to explain the rules though."

"Allow me," Tyrone said. He popped up between Brad and Maria and put an arm around each of their shoulders. "So, the rules are simple -"

They really weren't, but Tyrone managed to explain them pretty clearly, as if he had done this hundreds of times before.

Huh. Maybe he had. The original DD&MD already existed around the time of the Transcendence, didn't it?

What did demons do in their free time anyway? Aside from pretending to be students, which hopefully wasn't the norm.

Stars, he hoped that wasn't the norm.

"What are these?"

Thomas glanced up. He recognised the papers Maria had dug out of the box.

"My old character sheets," Thomas said. "Heh. Those bring back memories." Summers spent with his cousin, ignoring the sunny outdoors in favour of holing up inside with a set of dice, imagining great forests and dank caves and grand adventures.

Maria leafed through the stack of papers and laughed. "Dude, did you roleplay as a demon? Thomas the Strange, Scourge of Irrational Numbers!"

Oh, right. _That_.

Thomas hid his face in his hands but he could still feel Tyrone's amused glance.

"There wasn't much about demons in the Villain Handbook Expansion," Eduardo said. "Where did you get these stats from? And those powers look awesome!"

Should he bother lying about it? Not worth the bother - they would find out anyway, his little booklet was somewhere in that box too.

"I kind of made them up," Thomas admitted. "I was a lonely kid alright? I made up my own little expansion. There should be a booklet in there -"

"Found it!" Maria exclaimed, presenting the scuffed pages like they were the holy grail. " _Pandemonium Expansion_ \- by Thomas the Strange!"

"Six classes, each with different powers and stats, a personal summoning circle with symbols dependant on the powers you select - this is really detailed, dude," Eduardo said. "You really thought this through."

"Yeah, well, I only got to playtest it once, so there are probably some bugs in there," Thomas said, embarrassed and yet pleased. He had put a lot of work in that little handbook. It was... nice, that someone appreciated it.

"Lightbulb moment!" Eduardo said. "We should use Thomas' expansion!"

"Yeah, let's all play demons," Tyrone grinned. "Seems hilarious."

Maria shrugged. "I'm up for it. Brad, what about you?"

"As long as I don't have to count too much and get to bash people's heads in, I'm happy," Brad said.

"Great!" Eduardo said. "I'll go copy this booklet and we can work out our characters!"

Of course it took way longer to put together entirely new characters instead of using the prefabs Thomas had brought. At least his friends seemed to have fun, if the occasional 'Ooh, this power lets me explode enemies with my mind!' was any indication.

"I don't think we'll get to actually starting the game today," Thomas said, when it seemed they were nearly done with creating their demonic alter egos. "It's almost eleven and we do have class in the morning, so... tomorrow evening?"

"Maybe Wednesday? I have a thing tomorrow evening."

"A thing?"

"A date," Maria said. She rolled her eyes at their stares. "I do have a social life outside of you idiots, you know."

"Since when?"

"Since New Year's Eve. Met someone at a party."

"Don't go summoning any demons together," Tyrone teased.

Maria groaned. "That was one time!"

"Wait, what?" Eduardo said. "You summoned a demon too?"

Thomas' thoughts came to a screeching halt. "What do you mean, 'too'? Eddy, you didn't!"

"It was only once!" Eduardo said. "We always do this potluck thing around the holidays and I didn't feel like cooking... It was just a tiny little deal! But it turns out my family doesn't like haggis and I didn't know what else Brian could make so -"

"Brian? You summoned the Organ Duck?" Tyrone said.

Eduardo fidgeted with his pencil. "Sort of? We talked a bit. Well, I talked. He just... oozed. But there was an amiable connection there, I'm sure. He just looks so _lonely_ , dude! Never thought a demon could look lonely but did you _see_ him during my class assignment? All droopy and I dunno, I thought getting a summon might cheer up his holiday spirits. Got a pretty good deal too. Haggis for twenty people in return for the leftovers of mum's stuffed turkey. No one even missed those leftovers."

Haggis, really? Thomas cringed. He would have worried about what kind of organ meat went in that haggis...

"Dude, you summoned a demon outside of class," Maria said. She shook her head. "For shame."

"For shame," Brad repeated.

"It _was_ pretty reckless of me," Eduardo said. "Stupid even, right? I'm sorry."

"Seriously guys?" Thomas said. "Let's quit the holier-than-thou attitude, shall we?"

"You're not any better, Thomas," Tyrone said, with a slowly widening grin. "You summoned a demon too, together with Brad. _Actually_ , I'm the only one who didn't summon a demon past holiday break."

"What do you want, congratulations?" Thomas said.

"Wait, I can't follow," Eduardo said. "What happened? What did I miss?"

"I got a bit drunk at a party and thought it was a good idea to summon Alcor, but Thomas stopped me," Maria explained. "Tyrone and Adams egged me on though, so they get at least part of the blame. How about you, Brad?"

"I, uh, I wanted better grades. Summoned a knowledge demon. Turns out the price was higher than expected. Thomas helped me fix it. So I shouldn't judge you for summoning the Organ Duck. Sorry."

"Sounds serious." Eduardo said. "Are you okay?"

Brad smiled. "Yeah. Thomas is a lifesaver, really."

"He sure is," Maria said. "Even if he mothers us a lot."

"I don't mother you!" Thomas huffed. "I just tell you not to summon dangerous demons on a whim and what do you do? I swear, half of my hair is greying because of you three."

"There's four of us," Eduardo pointed out.

"I know. Tyrone is responsible for the other half all by himself."

"That doesn't come as a surprise at all," Maria said. She got up. "I'm going to grab another Pitt Cola, anyone else want one?"

"I do," Eduardo said. "I'll grab some chips too."

"Quick question," Tyrone whispered, while the others were occupied by getting more drinks and snacks. "Do you consider this as our first roleplaying session? We only did character creation."

Thomas frowned. "This counts. Character creation _is_ part of the game." He was not going to weasel out of this so easily!

On the other hand... If he told them now, maybe they wouldn't be in the mood for games Wednesday. And he really wanted to play DD&MD. Would it be so bad to delay telling them a few more days?

Bad Thomas! He narrowed his eyes at Tyrone. "You sneaky little devil. This definitely counts."

"Okay, fine." Tyrone turned back to the others as they came back from their kitchen excursion. Eduardo's arms were loaded with bags of chips. "Guys, I have an announcement to make. I'm Alcor the Dreambender."

Thomas tensed. How would they react? This was such a blunt way to tell them, damn it Tyrone!

Maria snickered.

"Good to see the stress of the midterms hasn't changed your sense of humor," she said. "Sure, you can play Alcor if you want. That's a Chaos type then, since he has powers from all five other classes?"

"If you say so," Tyrone said with an easy smile.

Thomas glared. ' _I'm just helping you practice your demon deals_.' That's what Tyrone had said, right? And ' _details are important.'_ He probably should have known better than to try to outwit Alcor the Dreambender. Damn it Tyrone!

"My character is a Life type demon called Deady the Demon," Eduardo said, unloading his arms. "Who wants a bag of chips? Here you go dude."

"Ghost peppers and vinegar, nice!" Tyrone said, already shoveling chips into his mouth.

"I applaud your choice of name," Maria said. "I haven't picked one yet... Oh, since Tyrone roleplays as Alcor, I can be Mizar!"

Thomas caught Tyrone's slight flinch. The Alcorian myth was unclear about who Mizar was - sometimes his mortal sister, sometimes his daughter or protégée, sometimes even a fellow demon. Sometimes his wife or lover. Whatever the truth, Mizar was always someone who meant a lot to Alcor, in whatever way that love expressed itself. Maybe not a great idea to take Mizar's name in vain.

"That's very cliché, don't you think?" he said. "Every Twin Souls obsessed girl wants to roleplay as Mizar."

Maria frowned. "Good point. Hm, let me think about it."

"I'm Xylorrr the Grrreat," Brad said. "With three r's each. Pass me a Pitt, Maria."

Eduardo blinked. "Why so many r's?"

"Aesthetic. Demons are supposed to have names with lots of superfluous letters, dude. That, or a lack of vowels. That's also demony."

"There are literally at least a hundred examples why you're wrong in _that_ book right there -"

"I'm talking about fantasy demons, of course. We're not going to use real ones. _Obviously_."

"There once was a group of roleplayers who used Alcors true summoning circle in their game, and they spilled some candy on it," Tyrone said. "He showed up and joined in. At least that's what I heard."

"Yeah, let's not try that," Maria said. "It's probably safer without any real demons here. Excepting you, of course, oh great _Thomas the Strange_."

"I hate you all," Thomas said, and they laughed.

* * *

 

Thomas collected all his papers behind the little folding screen on the table. He'd been a Dungeon Master before, but organising a roleplaying adventure for his cousin was a bit different than organising it for a party of four heroes - well okay, not quite _heroes_ since they were all playing as demons. Hopefully his preparations would be sufficient. It was going to be a little adventure, a tiny fetch-and-carry kind of quest. Just to give Maria and Brad a taste of how _freaking awesome_ this game was.

Maria and Eduardo were on time, as expected. Brad was running late and Tyrone - who knew where he spent his time, when he wasn't hanging out with them or taking classes?

"So how was your date?" Eduardo asked, while they were waiting for the rest of their group.

Maria shrugged. "It was okay."

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

"Meh. He seemed more fun when we were both drunk, to be honest. Last night we both stayed sober and boy, can he drone on. Apparently he's from a rich family or something and he just _did not_ shut up about his father's huge yacht and how big his mansion is and - _ugh_. Eventually I asked if all this talk about the _size_ of his stuff was some kind of hint or something, and if so was he compensating maybe? Then he sputtered and blushed a bit and stopped bragging. After that the evening was pretty fun though."

"I'm glad it worked out in the end," Thomas said. "This is the same guy you met during New Year's Eve?"

"Yep," Maria said. She elbowed him. "That was quite the night for match-ups, right? You and that Alice girl, Tyrone and Adams -"

"There's nothing going on with me and - _wait_." Thomas froze. "What do you mean, _Tyrone and Adams?_ "

Nope.

Nooooope.

No way in hell.

"Didn't you notice?" Maria said. "They were gazing soulfully into eachother's eyes pretty much the entire night. I'm surprised Tyrone hasn't mentioned it yet. Maybe it didn't work out and he doesn't want to talk about it. Anyway, I'm not going to bring it up if he doesn't. I thought you knew."

"I didn't," Thomas said, and wished he still didn't. This had to be a misunderstanding, right? Tyrone had mentioned Adams knew about him. And he was 'messing with her'. And that odd conversation last week...

Nope. Not going to ask. This was not _any_ of his business and _he didn't want to know, okay._

"Anyway, you and Alice aren't a thing then?" Maria said.

"Huh? Sorry, trying to scrub the idea of Tyrone and Adams out of my mind," Thomas said. "But no, Alice is nice but... I'm way too busy for romantic stuff. No thanks."

"I know exactly what you mean, dude," Eduardo said. "I can't wait to graduate. Class work is going to be hell this term."

"I noticed," Maria said. "Can you believe how many assignments we got? And it's only the third day of classes."

"Have you picked your thesis subject yet? Deadline is Friday, don't forget."

"I'm still not sure. What did you pick?"

"I was thinking about trying to design a rune array that measures the strenght of the binding circle before the summoning is activated," Thomas said. "If Hicks approves, of course. It's going to be a tough one but I think it's doable."

Maybe Tyrone could help. That would speed things up - huh, would that count as cheating? Getting advice from classmates was allowed, right?

If you think of the devil - there was a knock on the door. It was Tyrone, a sheepish look on his face and his DD&MD supplies ready.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late. Again. You know, work and stuff."

For one crazy moment Thomas imagined Alcor the Dreambender flipping burgers in a fastfood shack somewhere, with a floating cap and a McMickey's logo emblazoned on his grease-stained shirt.

Then his treacherous mind added Adams, decked out in a similar outfit and making eyes at McAlcor and - _nope_ , not going there.

"No worries, Brad is late too," Eduardo said.

Maria got up. "Want a Pitt?"

"Sure, thanks," Tyrone said. He took a seat and put his set of dice on the table. "Well, I'm ready to be a demon!"

Thomas facepalmed.

Maria just came back with the Pitt Cola when Brad finally got there.

"I would have been on time, but apparently my delivery guy was a vampire," he said, as if that explained anything. "I had to wait around for him to show up, but it's gonna be worth it - here, have a late Christmas present!” He grabbed something from his backpack and threw it at Eduardo. “I was too lazy to wrap them separately, so there.”

“What are these?” Eddy asked, unwrapping the box. “Spell strips?”

“ ‘Turn a summoning into a FUNnoming,’” Maria read. “Wow. With that kind of tagline, you just _know_ this is gonna be good.”

“Yep, these are spell strips,” Brad said. “Here, let me show you - you stick this little thing on your throat like this, and then you touch this spot to turn it on, and voila. D̪͇̤͖EM̞̠̞̝O͖̖͖N͓̤͖̰̥̬͓ ̰V̲̜̟̪͓̙O̫̝͕̥͈I̜̤̳̙̳̬C͈̩̟̦E̪͙͉̫̞!”

They jumped at the sudden reverb.

“Cool!” Tyrone said. “Can I try?”

“Of course! I got one for each of us. They wear out pretty quickly though.”

“But we didn’t get you a present,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know we would be exchanging gifts. And it’s _February_.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Brad said with a shrug. “I came across them when I was browsing this website and I just thought, well, since we’re all roleplaying as demons… They’re from some tiny company that makes cosplaying supplies. They had lots of weird stuff! Most was Twin Souls related though.”

Eduardo stopped midway applying one of the spell strips to his throat and frowned at Brad. “Dude. What were you doing on a Twin Souls website?”

“So how do you like them? Try them on!” Brad said, brightly avoiding the question. Tyrone stared at him with a horrified expression on his face.

“I never pegged you as a closet Twinner,” Maria grinned.

“I’m-not-a-Twinner-please-shut-up.”

“What was that? I can’t hear you,” Maria fluttered with her eyelashes and pretented to swoon, “I was too _blinded_ by my _forbidden love_ for that _devilishly_ handsome monster!"

"That doesn't even make sense. If you're blinded then why can't you _hear_?" Eduardo argued.

"Nothing of Twin Souls makes sense," Thomas said. He wished he could take a picture of Tyrone right now. His demon friend had sunk so deeply in his chair only his poofy hair was visible above the tabletop.

"I'm not a Twinner!" Brad said. "Okay? I just, uh... kinda visit their chatroom."

"But _why?_ "

"Dude, do you even know how many girls are out there who think demonology is super cool? And some of them are really nice too! So they like this stupid series, no one is perfect. And when you think about it, Twin Souls has some deep thematic arcs and gets _way_ more criticism than it deserves."

"You're totally a Twinner." Maria poked him. "You can admit it! It's okay to like stupid things. We love you anyway."

"Oh shut up."

"Shall we try out those spell strips?" Thomas suggested. "Before Tyrone completely slides under the table?"

"Huh? Tyrone, you okay?"

Tyrone came into view again. "No offence Brad," he said. "But I think Twin Souls is the worst. The absolute worst."

"But it's such a moving love story," Maria teased. "With _deep thematic arcs_ -"

"I will _pay you_ to shut up," Brad said.

"Let's be nice," Eduardo said. "Brad can't help what he likes. I'm just glad he felt comfortable enough with his friends to come out of the closet, so to speak. We're proud of you, Brad."

"Spell strips!" Brad said. "Anyone?"

"Let me try," Tyrone said, clearly just as eager to change the subject. "IS ̼THI͓̹̜̫͙S͎̟̥ ͈͇T͖͇H̠̪IN̳͙̦͓̘̗G͚̗̗̺̣ ̻͎̗̤͈W͔̫͚̟̠̭̱O͙͖̠R̮͙K̗̣̪̭͚I͈̜͔̯͇N̪̣G̜̰͙̣̘̖ͅ? Ha, not bad at all!"

Thomas nearly groaned. The reverb wasn't quite right, but Tyrone did sound very familiar like this. How could the others fail to notice?

“Tͪ̀̐̋̍̊ͤHͬ̏Eͤ̈̾Sͭ͒̑̄̾̃ͨEͯ͌ ͊͑ͪA̐Ȑͦ̀̈́Eͭ͌ͭ̑̾̅ ̑̓͊̀ͦ̀Aͮ͑ͨ̈̈́͊Ẅ́̃̂̂̚Eͯ̇ͥSͭͫͤ̈́ͥÖ̃́M͋͐ͬ̚Ė̉̉̍̓̐̃!” Maria beamed. "I̊̾͋ͪ̉̚ S͌ͥ́̆͐O͂͆ͧ̿̿ͯU͒̇̔ͪ̉Nͮ̒̑́̂ͧ̚D ̅ͥ̒ͨͨAͨ͂ͯL̅ͭ̑̈́̃̂͆Lͧ̌ͯ O̎̂̚Mͪ̒̎̌̑̋I͆̚Nͬ̈Ŏͬ͌ͨ̄̑U̐̅̄ͨͧSͮ̇̊̈́ͭ AͣͭͤN̐̇ͥ̿ͮ̓Dͣͦͬͨ ̅̅ͣ̉ͧST̾̒͋̏̍Ȗ̽͊̿ͨF̍̍͛̽F̆.”

"B͂̏̽A̐̈̀̒ͮ̀̀N͂̓̉̉̔Á̿ͨ̑N̋ͮ̊̈Aͭ̃," Eduardo intoned. “M͑O̿̀ͪͬỈST̉ͫͧ̆.͌͌͂́̑͆ ̉ͤ̐ͫ ̆̚Ḧ́Uͪ̔͐ͮMͤṖͣ́ͪTY-͆́̆ͬͪ̊̔D̑̈́̔ͫͩ̈́Ū͒̂̆ͨMͦ̎̔̔ͨ̿PT̆̒̎ͬYͫ̾. This is so cool guys, it doesn’t matter what I say it sounds creepy anyway!"

"Neat," Tyrone said. "So, my dear fellow demons... Are we ready to start our epic quest?"

"H̪͙͈̩̙E͔̠̙͈͚͚̩L̳L͖̜͉̯̭ ͚͚̥̮͇Y̬̳E̮̻̬A͓̠͓̺̩H."

It took a while for Brad and Maria to get into the flow of the game, but when they did, they sure didn't hold back.

"You succesfully break through the binding," Thomas narrated. "The summoner takes his magic staff and is preparing some kind of spell. It's your turn, Merdera the Amazing."

"I cast Fire Wall" Maria said, rolling the dice. "That's a thirty-eight! Burn, silly mortals, B̰̯Ụ̤̥͖͉U̗̟͓̙͇̳̹U͓̠͚̦̫U̪͖̳̭U̞̫Ṷ̳̮̣̮̝R͚̭͚͙͓N̯! H̝͍̦̪̳A͎̩͕͈͎H̙A̝͇̖̹̝̲H̘A̮H̰̣̰̫̫̰ͅA͎̫̩̣̟̩HA̙͕̜̼ͅH̘͎̱A͎̩ͅ!"

Thomas scooted his chair a bit further away from her. Damn, those spell strips were unnerving.

Maria's laugh trailed off as she noticed their stares. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"No reason," Tyrone said. "Just wondering. You don't happen to have been a demon in a past life, right?"

"Is that even possible?" Eduardo said.

"Yeah, Tyrone, is that possible?" Thoma asked, suddenly a bit alarmed.

"I doubt it," Brad said. "Just imagine some human kid walking around with a demon's soul in their body. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know you're not supposed to remember your past lives but I bet _something_ would come through anyway."

“There’s always an easier explanation,” Tyrone said. “Maria could just be a demon in disguise. Wouldn’t that be terrifying? To find out one of your friends is actually a demon?” He smiled somewhat nervously. “Let’s all think about how you would react to something like that. And talk about it.”

Real subtle, Tyrone.

"If it's Maria?" Brad said. "Having seen her roleplay, I'd run away as far as I could."

"You can't outrun Merdera the Amazing," Maria grinned. "I have Flight of Fire as one of my powers."

"I still think that one is overpowered."

"You're just sore you didn't get to deal out the final blow," Maria said. She turned to Thomas. "It was the final blow, right? My Fire Wall beat the summoner?"

Thomas checked his charts and did some quick counting. "It did," he said. "The summoner is burnt to a crisp. Maria - sorry, _Merdera_ , you delivered the killing blow so you get the soul point. The way out is clear, you can all go back to the Dreamscape with the Orb of Unholiness."

"Wait!" Brad said. "Can I loot the body?"

"Er, sure. Roll for it."

"I got a fifteen."

"Most of the body is burned, but you find a little golden figurine in the summoner's pockets. It burns your hands. You manage to put it in your satchel but you take five Holy damage."

"Ooh, gold!"

"Are you going back to the Dreamscape or does anyone else want to do something?"

"We're going back, I think?" Eduardo said. "And we bring the Orb of Unholiness to Globnar the Nasty."

Thomas smiled. "In that case: congratulations! Your quest is complete!"

"Isn't this the best game ever?" Tyrone said. "How did you like it?"

"It was more fun than I expected," Brad said. "I wouldn't mind playing this again. Maybe swap out one of my powers though, Rain of Blood wasn't as cool as I thought it would be."

"We're definitely playing this again," Eduardo said. "Dude, your Pandemonium expansion is awesome!"

"Thanks," Thomas said. "I'm glad you liked it."

"If you guys want to try for another quest after this, I don't mind being Dungeon Master," Tyrone offered. "Since you're all roleplaying as demons... I have some ideas. And I’m pretty good with illusions."

Now why did that send a chill up Thomas' spine?

* * *

 

There was one other person who knew about a link between Evergreen and Alcor, but it was a long shot. And to be honest, Elisabeth thought she was rather annoying.

But she didn't have many options, so Elisabeth approached Dewitt. That was easier said than done, since Dewitt was almost never far away from those friends of hers.

Eventually she managed to corner her in the girl's bathroom.

"Hi Adams," Dewitt said. "You need something?"

To hell with sugarcoating it - if the demon magic would eat her words, she wanted to know it right now!

"I need to tell you something. I think Evergreen is really a demon," she said. The words left her mouth - succes! Apparently Dewitt knew enough to fall outside the limits of her tongue-tying deal.

But why did Dewitt seem more amused than shocked? Was this one big conspiracy between Dewitt, Strange and Alcor? Who else was in on it?

"He's a demon," Dewitt repeated, her eyes shining. "Sure! Did he talk to you in TH̊ͫI͌S ̈́̑͋̆̇ͭVͬͩͣ͒ͧ̅͊Oͯͥ̆̈́Iͬ̇C̏ͫͤ͛̈ͣEͬͤ͌͛̇?"

Elisabeth jumped. _What the -!?_

Dewitt laughed. "You should see your face! It's a toy, Adams. See, I have this spell strip, and if you touch this spot YO̼̳̘̮U ̠̞C̣͙͈ͅA̙N̳̘ ͖̩̙͎̖̲̱E̙A̘͎̱̩͇̙̫T͖̝̞ ͍M̲̭̯͙̠O̹̮R̻TA̯̪L͍̫̬̗ ̝̳͉̤̪͖ͅS̞͖̞̤OU̹̣̮͍̮L͉ͅS̹̬̘̣͈̪. Just kidding, it's only the voice. I'm not eating any souls today. Tyrone has one too."

That stupid toy had taken at least five years off her life. Elisabeth clenched her fingers to stop her hands from shaking and tried again. "I don't mean the toy, he's actually Alcor the Dreambender. I know!"

"Oh, he tried that on you too?" Dewitt said. "Sheesh, Adams, that was just a joke. A bad one, but that's Tyrone, his sense of humour is weird. I guess you don't know him so well." Dewitt's smile turned impish. "Or do you? _Know him well_ , I mean?"

What exactly was she implying? It better not be what it sounded like!

"This is so not worth it," Elisabeth muttered, and left.

Operation Save Evergreen would have to be a solo mission. But that was okay. She worked best on her own.

* * *

 

Thomas had to hand it to him - Tyrone was a pretty good Dungeon Master.

They were sitting in Eduardo's apartment, the table overflowing with graph paper, many-sided dice and - of course - snacks.

"The cave wall collapses and you can see a long, doorless hallway, lit by an eldritch glow."

"Perception check," Eduardo said, and rolled a thirty.

"Who else wants to look around?" Tyrone asked.

They rolled their dice. Thomas groaned. A lousy one!

"Thomas the Strange notices only the cobwebs in the hallway, because he walked through one," Tyrone grinned. "Everyone else sees the drawing on the far end of the hallway. Something is painted on the wall. Eddy, you had a thirty, right? You recognise the drawing as a summoning circle."

"I have Demon Lore as a background power," Eduardo said. "Do I recognise who the circle belongs to?"

"You'll have to take a closer look."

"Okay, I take a closer look."

Tyrone smiled. "Deady the Demon walks closer to the summoning circle and sees it is for a very high-level demon. It also has this rune drawn on it."

He showed them a piece of paper.

"That's an activation rune," Thomas said. "Triggered by proximity."

"Crap," Maria said. "Did we trigger the circle?"

"The runes start to glow," Tyrone said. "The hallways starts to shake. And then, suddenly..."

A floating top hat popped into visibility above his head. Black dripped through the white of his eyes, his irises turning burning gold. Two wings slowly unfolded from his lower back.

"... Ḁ̞͉̭̠́l̢̩̺͉c͏̟̩o̲̲̹̮̠͞r͙̯͕̦̮ͅ t̻̼͉͘h͓̘̙͍e̼̝͙͎̣͖̼ ̖͔͍̳̺D͔͈̩̜̤̬̪re̴͕̦̗͔̝̬̠a̳m̸̟̤͙̰̳b̠͙̠̲e̪͓̻n͍͘d̦̗͇͖̥̘̘͘e̫͓̳̙̙͚r̳̠͖͖̩͕͚ ̰̯͕̞̰͇͝a̞p͕̣̬̳̟̥̥p͕̜̲e̮̼̗͙̙ͅa̖r͏̗̣s̥̳̟̞̩͢," Alcor said, flashing them a wide, sharp grin.

"You weren't kidding about the illusions," Maria said. "Man, you are good at everything, aren't you?"

Thomas couldn't help it - he tensed. Aside from the fact that this was just a horrible idea - he had to admit it was _extremely unsettling_ to see his best friend look so obviously demonic all of a sudden. "Does this really seem like a good idea to you, _Tyrone_?"

"Don't be a spoilsport," Brad said. "This is pretty cool. Only I don't think the real Alcor has such big ears. Heh, or a smudge of nacho dust on his nose."

Thomas had to bite his tongue.

"So, great Dreambender, are we supposed to fight you or are you sending us on a quest?" Maria asked.

"You're only level two characters," Tyrone said. "You can try to fight me, but I wouldn't recommend it. And I don't have big ears."

"Yeah, you do. Sorry dude. If it's any consolation, you know what they say about men with big ears."

Tyrone frowned. "I don't know. What _do_ they say?"

"That they can hear well," Maria grinned. "Gosh, you're sometimes so adorably innocent."

"Guys?" Eduardo spoke up, his voice rather faint. His eyes were wide and fixed unmovingly on Tyrone. "Those - those aren't illusions."

Oh right. He had a bit of the Sight.

Damn it, Tyrone!

"What are you talking about?" Maria asked. "Eddy? You okay?"

Eduardo pointed a shaky finger at Tyrone. "That's - that's no illusion," he repeated. "That's him. That's Alcor. I See it. Also, his spell strip is still on the table."

"Ȯ̦͉͖̟̳͐͌o̭̥͚̦̻̯͗͊ͦ̿ͪ͌ͨp̘̣̺̤̐̈s̠̖ͫͥͮ̂̃̍ͬ," Alcor said.

Thomas could hear a pencil drop.

Brad was the first to react. He stood up with so much force his chair crashed to the floor, grabbed something from the inside of his backpack and threw it. A little glass bottle sailed over the table and smashed against Tyrone's shirt.

"Oy!" The 'illusions' shifted and Tyrone looked like Tyrone again, with a crestfallen expression on his face. "That hurts you know!"

"Ease them into it," Thomas said. "You were going to _ease them into it_! This is not easing, this is the _opposite_ of easing! You couldn't have been _more_ dramatic!"

"I could have added some spooky smoke effects," Tyrone said.

"Do you really think that would help!?"

Brad's gaze was horrified. "That was holy water! Why aren't you melting?"

"Don't melt Tyrone!" Eduardo said. "Besides. I don't think holy water _can_ melt demons."

"It can," Thomas said.

"Depends on both the strenght of the water and the demon," Tyrone added. "So uh. You're not going to melt me, Brad. It sure stings though. Can I get a towel please? Holy water doesn't clean up well and this is sorta eating a way through my skin, so..."

"I'll get a towel," Eduardo said, and fled the table.

"I can vouch for him," Thomas said. "This is still Tyrone, you guys. He's just a bit weirder than we all thought."

The sudden silence was tense and lasted until Eduardo came back. Tyrone took the offered towel and with a snap of his fingers the drenched shirt was gone. His skin was mottled and angry red where the water had seeped through the cloth, but as he dried off the marks were already fading. With another snap he was wearing a dry, identical shirt.

"Woah," Maria said. Her eyes were wide. "You're the real Alcor. The Dreambender. The Twin Star. The One With Too Many Titles And Names. This is like finding out your friend is secretly a rock star!"

"A rock star that _eats souls_ ," Brad said. "I don't know. I- I need some air."

"Brad, please let me explain -"

Brad ignored Tyrone's plea and a moment later he was gone, the door slamming behind him.

Thomas got up automatically to follow him, then hesitated. Could he really leave Maria and Eduardo alone with Tyrone right now?

Maria caught his glance. "Go," she mouthed.

"Prove you really are Tyrone," Eduardo said. "Say something Tyroney."

"Uh... "

They weren't panicking. Not like Brad was. They would be fine for a few minutes, right?

"I'll be right back," Thomas said, and went after Brad.

* * *

 

Brad was sitting on the edge of the fountain across the street. Water clattered down from the ugly statue and sprayed a fine mist in the air.

The Mangy Dog was closed tonight, so the streets were rather empty. It was just the two of them.

"If you're here to tell me I should just get over it, don't bother," Brad said, as Thomas took a seat next to him.

"I'm here to tell you I _get it_ ," Thomas said. "I was angry and scared too -"

"Were you? Really? Because everyone else seems to be all hunky-dory with this! Maria went all fangirl and Eddy just shrugged! Am I the only one having a problem?"

"Maria is just being Maria," Thomas said. "And I don't know how well Eddy is taking this news. He's good at putting on a smile, our Eddy."

"So I should just smile and pretend to be okay?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"You know, it says a lot that _you_ came after me, not Tyrone himself."

"Would you have listened to him?" Thomas asked. "Or would you have run away?"

Brad stubbornly avoided his eyes.

"I'm just saying... Maybe give him a chance?" Thomas said. "So Alcor and Tyrone are the same person. That isn't a new thing. They've always been the same person, we just didn't notice. He never hurt us. Besides, you summoned Alcor yourself once, remember? During the Pitt Cola deal? And that went fine."

"That was a demon in a summoning circle, not a demon pretending to be my friend," Brad snapped.

Maybe it wasn't just _fear_ talking, Thomas realised. "I don't think he's pretending -"

"How can you believe that so easily?" Brad said. "I nearly lost my sister beause I was too careless around demons!"

"I know. I was _there_ ," Thomas said. "And you know what? So was Tyrone. He showed up late, sure. But we called him for help and he came. No tricks, no deals - just a friend helping out a friend."

 That meant something, didn't it?

He understood Brad's point of view. After the basement - suffice to say he had many mental debates with himself whether studying demonology was really worth it. It was one thing to hear about how deadly and monstrous demons could be... It was different to see it up close. What happened in the basement had not been Thomas' fault, not really - how awful must it be for Brad, to be responsible, to know you nearly got your sister killed because of a stray word?

But Tyrone wasn't Gubal the Thousand-Eyed or Vhassea the Skilled. He wasn't even Alcor, not _just_ Alcor anyway. He was Tyrone, whatever that meant, and the rest was... extra. Thomas could live with that.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't be careful about making deals with him," he said. "You know how he is in class, he loves loopholing out of everything. He's still a demon, it's difficult to predict what instincts or urges might show up. I wouldn't trust him with my soul. But... I think I would trust him with my life." Thomas took a deep breath. "And this is starting to sound like bad Twin Souls fanfic so I'm gonna shut up now."

Brad didn't even laugh at that. He was silent for a long time.

When he finally spoke again, the anger had left his voice. "I don't know - I don't know if I can just _accept this_ like you do, Thomas. I like Tyrone, sure, but this - this is big. Too big. I usually trust your judgement, I know you mean well and all, but..." He shook his head and trailed off. A sigh. "Just... give me a moment. I'll come back inside. Okay? I just... want to be alone right now."

His face was unreadable. Stars, Thomas hoped he wouldn't do something stupid.

"Okay," he said softly. "If you're sure."

He left Brad on the edge of the fountain, a lonely figure in the glare of the streetlights, and went back inside.

* * *

 

At least Maria and Eduardo seemed to be taking it well. When Thomas returned to Eduardo's apartment he found them hovering around Tyrone, apparently playing Twenty Questions.

"So... How long have you been a demon?"

"A while."

"What is your opinion about string cheese?"

"Uh, it's fine? That's a weird question Eddy."

"Is Twin Souls true?"

"N̵̠̦̝̹͌̈́̓Ö͔̜́͊̉ͥ̓ definitely not."

"Do you get on well with other demons?"

"You were there during the summoning assignment, right? Take a guess."

"Is it true you don't like scented candles because you once had a lover who used to drip those on sensitive places and -"

"Okay _inappropriate_ \- this is getting a bit too personal Maria I'm not comfortable talking about this."

"Sorry," Maria said. "Just making conversation." She looked up and met Thomas' eyes. "You were gone a while. How did it go?"

Thomas sighed. "I don't know. It's complicated. That summoning during the holidays, the one Brad and I performed - it was a bit worse than Brad mentioned."

Tyrone seemed to curl into himself, shoulders hunching. "Oh," he said. "Right."

"He promised to come back inside, though," Thomas added. "And I don't want to nag, Tyrone, but there _may_ have been better ways to tell them. Like _a_ _thousand_ better ways."

"How long have you known?" Eduardo asked.

"Not much longer than you guys. Since the holidays."

"You're not secretly a demon too, right?" Maria said. "Just checking! I understand why Tyrone gets such high grades now, and you're not that far behind him, so..."

"I _study_ ," Thomas said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe you should try it too sometimes."

"So... We're okay?" Tyrone asked. "You guys don't... mind?"

"Are you kidding? This is terrifying! But so, so cool," Maria said. "I have tons of questions! And hey, who else can say they're buddies with the Dreambender himself?"

"Yeah, maybe _don't_ mention that to anyone," Tyrone said. "I want to graduate and I don't think the university would let me if they found out." He shrugged. "Not like they could stop me, I guess, but I'd rather not invite trouble."

"Good point," Maria said. "So do you make deals with friends? Is there a discount?"

"Prepare your wording properly," Thomas said. "Because otherwise he'll just loophole out of it and call it 'practice'. And then raid your snack drawer."

"Hey, you said I could help myself to your snack drawer. That was a clear and limitless offer."

"You're a bottomless pit, Tyrone."

They fell silent as the door opened. Their smiles faded away and Tyrone seemed to make himself even smaller, apprehension filling the room like a thundercloud.

Brad came in. He walked over to them and pulled back his chair.

"Right," he said, taking a seat in the sudden silence. His voice was shaky but he took his thirty-eight sided dice with an air of resolution. "Are we playing this game or not?"

He met Tyrone's eyes. "Alcor the Dreambender appeared. What happens next?"

One heartbeat. Two.

The tension in the air eased as Alcor smiled.

"That's up to you," he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be titled "Graduation Day" and it's going to be the last one, folks! After that I'll release all these OC's into the wild to fend for themselves. (Okay, there's still going to be a little oneshot at least. Promise.)
> 
> You may have noticed a few shout-outs in this chapter to Lady_Phenyx's "Dungeons and Demons" fic (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2709113/chapters/14365972) (one of my favorites!) and "Cinnamon Theory" (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2709113/chapters/15125659). And there are some allusions to various asks and headcanons from the TAU page, which I would love to link to if only I had remembered to save the links...


	12. Graduation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five months later... it's Graduation Day!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so difficult to write! All write, scrap, repeat. Though cookie. But it's DONE! And more or less the way I envisioned it. I hope there are no obvious plotholes left.
> 
> For who's interested, when I was writing this fic I had this song (https://youtu.be/jukv9Q1eR2g) pretty much on repeat all day.

The human body is an amazing thing. Years of evolution have conditioned it to respond to certain stimuli with alarm and caution. The scent of fire where it's not expected. The glint of reflective eyes in the dark. Certain sounds, like the deep underground rumbling of a volcano about to erupt, or the growl of something large and predatory that is just waiting to make a meal out of you.

Some things just flipped all kinds of mental alarm switches, and Maria and Tyrone giggling together was one of them.

Thomas looked up from his spot on the couch, where he was practising his script for the big summoning final tomorrow. Maria and Tyrone were at the table, hunched over some papers.

Last time he heard them giggle like that he'd had to fight his way through a truck-load of singing fish and the crossroads on Moss Street still had a tendency to glow in the dark when it rained.

"Okay, spill," he said. "What are you two plotting this time?"

"Nothing much," Maria said, way too innocently. "Just preparing Tyrone's speech for the graduation ceremony."

Hicks had asked for two volunteers to give a little speech, tell some amusing anecdote about their studies or wish their fellow students good luck with their future, that kind of thing. Thomas _had_ been surprised at Tyrone's eagerness to volunteer - he'd been only a second behind Adams.

This warranted a closer look.

Paper was _not_ supposed to look like that. There seemed to be too many dimensions - he'd swear there were three pages intersecting through each other, space folding in on itself as Tyrone's handwriting snaked from one page to the other. His head hurt just looking at it. He managed to read a few lines, his eyes watering.

 _Step 34y_ _i_ _..._

Oh boy.

"This isn't a speech," Thomas said. "This is a plan to unleash total chaos! And where would you even _get_ this many kazoos?"

Tyrone answered with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Don't worry about the kazoos. It's going to be hilarious! Can you just imagine all the looks on their faces?"

"I can," Thomas said slowly. "Tyrone. Traumatising people isn't funny." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, I forgot I'm talking to a demon. Listen - traumatising people isn't _nice_."

"Still talking to a demon," Tyrone quipped. "And what's the problem? It's not like anyone is going to get hurt. When I started this whole Tyrone-thing I always meant to have a big reveal at the end. You know, spice things up a bit, go out with a bang! Then I met you guys and I kinda abandoned the plans because hey, didn't know how you would take it. But now you all know so there is absolutely no reason the plan can't go through after all!"

"It'll have everything! Kazoos! Fireworks!" Maria said, banging a fist on the table. "A thousand elephants!"

Had she been drinking? Thomas glanced at the mindbending mess of notes.

Yep, right there. A thousand elephants, because _of course_ there would be.

"I could come up with a reason or two," he said. "You do realise that if you reveal yourself, there's no way back? You can't just become Tyrone again afterwards. People will remember. When you walk over the street they'll say, hey, isn't he that kid that turned into a demon?"

"Who cares? He can shapeshift and look like anything he wants," Maria said.

Tyrone was frowning however. "Huh. No, you may have a point there... I kinda like looking the way I do. And it's nice to be recognised sometimes, I guess. I mean, I am a regular at Tribal's Coffee Corner, it took that barista _three years_ to get my order right... Ugh, I don't want to start _that_ again."

"You can literally make coffee appear out of thin air with a snap of your fingers," Maria said.

"Not exactly," Tyrone said. He sighed. "And it's not the same."

"Right. Good reason not to do this whole reveal thing, then," Thomas said. "And this way we avoid the chaos and terror and traumatised families too. Win-win for everyone."

Tyrone looked at the plan, then back at Thomas. "You really think this reveal is a bad idea?"

"Yes, I really think so."

"But what if we use only a _little_ bit of glitter -"

" _No_ , Tyrone."

"Right," Tyrone said. "Traumatising people. Bad."

"Yes, that," Thomas said. "And we have to consider the reputation of the university. There's always been talk about how they'd like to shut down the demonology department. If it became public knowledge that a demon managed to pose as a student for four years, right underneath Hicks's nose?"

"That would look bad," Tyrone admitted. He sighed. "Fine. No elephants."

"Thank you," Thomas said, honestly relieved.

"Spoilsport," Maria said. "I was looking forward to the enchanted kazoo concert."

With a wave of Tyrone's hand the complicated arrangement of pages started folding in on itself, until it finally looked like ordinary paper again, with exactly as many dimensions as they were supposed to have. Still a mess though. "You'll get your kazoos one day."

"But not during our graduation ceremony, right?" Thomas said.

"No, you're right, I should keep my options open and not burn too many bridges," Tyrone said. "And, you know, not scare people too much. Sorry Maria, the plan is off."

"Aww. I was having so much fun plotting."

Thomas shook his head.  "Don't you have more important things to prepare for? Like your summoning final?"

"Got it covered," Maria said, fist-bumping Tyrone. There was a flash of blue and Thomas groaned.

"That is not anything close to a proper deal!"

"Pssh, Tyrone wouldn't screw over a friend," Maria shrugged. "Right Tyrone?"

"Of course I wouldn't!"

"Tell that to my empty snack drawer," Thomas said. He had labeled everything with his name - even going as far as to ward some of it with runes meant to repel demons - to no avail.

"That's different," Tyrone said, his teeth white and sharp as he grinned. "That was educational. You really should have put a deadline on that offer."

"Wait, Maria gets a nice deal with fire and everything without even saying the terms out loud, and I offer you access to my food _out of the goodness of my heart_ and _I'm_ the one who gets a lesson about proper deal-making?"

"Pretty much, yes," Tyrone said.

Thomas looked him in the eyes. "You really are evil," he deadpanned. "Alcor the Dreambender, Demon of Sweets."

Maria shrugged. "Better sweets than our souls, right?"

Even Tyrone seemed a bit taken aback at that.

"I would never trick you into that," he hurried to say. " _Never_! Besides, you can't compare candy with souls." His pupils turned wide and golden. "Nothing compares to a s̳o̥̬͡u̙̭̻ͅl."

"You're drooling a bit," Thomas said. "I find this worrying. Change of subject?"

"Sorry." Tyrone blinked the gold out of his eyes and looked embarrassed. "I try to cut back on that whole soul-eating stuff, anyway."

"Too fattening?" Maria teased. She took on a pensive air. "I wonder... what is the nutritional value of a soul? What does it even _taste_ like?"

"Don't know, won't ask," Thomas said. It was disturbing enough to imagine dorky Tyrone literally ripping apart the occasional cult - even if they kind of deserved it after all the kidnapping and murdering and stuff. He did not need existential questions about soul-eating or about the morality of letting a demon loose on criminals instead of putting them in jail or something.

"It tastes like chicken," Tyrone said.

Thomas paused. "Seriously?"

"No."

Maria punched his shoulder. "You joker," she said. "Hey, talking about jokes! What's up with you and Adams lately?"

Tyrone turned mopey. "I'm not sure. She's been ignoring me. I think she's given up."

"She wanted to expose you as a demon," Thomas said. "That would make it _kinda_ hard to graduate. You should be happy she's given up."

"I suppose..."

There was a knock on the door. Thomas got up to answer it, as Maria was gently ribbing Tyrone about his 'thing with Adams'.

Brad was standing in the open doorway, looking pale and stressed.

Thomas had an awful feeling of deja vu.

"Please tell me you haven't summoned a demon again," he said.

Brad rolled his eyes and stepped inside. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Hi Maria. Tyrone, I was hoping you'd be here. It's just, I'm really stressing out about the final tomorrow. I can't remember my script! Any of it! I was kinda hoping... Maybe some help?" He smiled sheepishly. "Please?"

"I'm going to need you to define your terms a bit more clearly," Tyrone said.

In any other situation Brad was as loud and lively as ever, but when it came to demon deals... He'd gotten more careful about proper preparation, but also more skittish, more easily flustered and tricked into messing up his terms. Well. Who could blame him? But it had made the past few months a lot more difficult for Brad, since their summoning classes were heavy on the practical side.

"That's the problem!" Brad said. He dropped down on the couch and groaned. "My head is so full I can't make sense of it anymore."

"Finals," Maria commiserated. "Just one more day, Brad. Don't give up now."

"Ugh." Brad rubbed his face tiredly. "The last one is the worst. I swear, after tomorrow I'm never summoning anything ever again."

"Good thing you'll have that degree as Master in Applied Demonology," Thomas said.

Brad shrugged. "My parents wanted me to get a degree. Doesn't really matter which one. I'll go into the family business anyway."

" 'Being filthy rich' is not a family business."

"Those estates don't manage themselves you know." Brad smiled. "I dunno. Maybe I'll go into politics. All those classes about loopholes and sneaky contract negotiation won't be wasted after all."

Maria exaggerated a shiver. "Politics," she said. "I'll stick with the demons, thanks."

"Better the devil you know, right?" Tyrone grinned. "I would vote for you, Brad. If I could vote, that is."

"Speaking of the devil we know..." Brad took a deep breath. "Tyrone, dude. You can make it so I remember my script tomorrow?"

"Sure. I have the same deal with Maria, you won't need to worry about forgetting your wording. Passing grade garantueed!"

They all turned to Thomas. He frowned. "No thanks, I'm fine."

"But everyone is doing it," Maria teased.

"Technically this counts as cheating, you know."

Tyrone smiled. "Nothing wrong with cheating a little, as long as you don't hurt anyone with it."

"Says the literal demon."

"This isn't really cheating," Maria argued. "It's just... a failsafe. I did all the work, all the preparations. Only the practical bit is left. I know I can do this, you know? But it's nice not having to worry I'll forget the proper wording and get myself eaten by accident."

"Same," Brad said quietly. "So dude. What's the price?"

"Eh," Tyrone shrugged. "Let's say, a month's worth of nightmares."

"That's pretty steep, isn't it? A month?"

"Why, are you using your nightmares for anything?"

Brad snorted. "You've got a point there."

"I know. Besides, nightmares are ḏ̨̦̗͎e̥̤l̠i̺͓̼̱c̬i̵͈o̲̫u͖s̮̠̭̲͢."

"I'll take your word for it. Okay. You can have a month's worth of my nightmares in exchange for making it so I won't forget my script tomorrow."

They shook on it. Maria frowned. "Hey, did I trade away my nightmares too? Because I wasn't thinking about nightmares at all when we fist-bumped."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Tyrone grinned.

"No, seriously, what did I trade? Snacks right? I was clearly thinking about snacks."

"Maybe you should have asked this earlier," Tyrone said. "This is why it's always better to vocalize a deal before shaking on it." His grin was wide and sharp. "See? Educational."

"Very educational," Thomas said. "What did you take, if not her nightmares?"

"Well..."

"Come on man, tell me!" Maria said.

"But it's much more fun if you guess!"

Maria gasped. "No, you didn't - you wouldn't -" She hurriedly took her phone and rang a number.

"Mom? It's me, Maria - no time for chit-chat, this is a matter of life and death! Go to the freezer and - no I'm _not_ kidding around, you need to go right now I don't care about the laundry! Are you there yet? Well open it! Now _tell me_ \- the rocky road. Is it -? Oh no, no no no!"

"Yep," Tyrone said. "And not just the rocky road. All of it."

"Bye mom," Maria said. "Sorry to bother you. Gotta go now. See you tonight." She put down her phone and turned to Tyrone. "All of it," she repeated. "Even the pistachio?"

Tyrone shrugged. "What can I say? Pistachio pairs well with nightmares."

"I was saving that rocky road ice cream for tomorrow," she said. "I've been looking forward to it ever since our finals started. It was supposed to be my reward."

"And a delicious reward it is," he said, with an impish smile. Maria narrowed her eyes.

"Anyway, since neither of us needs to study anymore, how about we make a night of it?" Brad suggested. "Get some take-out, play some games."

Thomas frowned. "I still need to study."

"Really? You're usually not one for last-minute preparation."

"Well... I'm almost done." He would have been done an hour ago if Maria and Tyrone's plotting hadn't distracted him. "Give me an hour and I'm ready to call it quits for the evening."

"Great! You call Eddy," Maria said, already taking her phone. "I'll see if there is an ice cream parlour nearby that does delivery."

"I think the pizza place does some desserts too." Tyrone snapped his fingers. "Oh! Almost forgot - I need to pay the Nose Beast a quick visit."

"Threatening your summons so they'll stick to your script," Thomas sighed. "Right." Since their first big assignment all the demons Tyrone summoned during class had followed his prepared wording _to the letter_. Even Hicks had commented on how strange it was.

Yeah, _strange_.

"Threatening is such a big word," Tyrone said. He dug through the stash of notes on the table. "I know I put that copy somewhere..."

"Here it is," Maria said helpfully, offering him a short stack of pages. "These in exchange for picking up the pizza when you come back? You're faster than delivery."

* * *

 

His summoning final had gone without a hitch. Thomas couldn't help being proud. This was his calling, it really was.

The others also did well, even if there was a short hiccup during Tyrone's turn when the Nose Beast started quoting Twin Souls at him in an absolutely _terrified_ voice.

"Slipped an extra page between his copy," Maria whispered, grinning like a demon while Tyrone sputtered and tried to get this summons back on track. "He needed to be taken down a peg."

"Agreed," Thomas said, and sat back to enjoy the show.

* * *

 

Rain pattered on the window pane as Thomas glanced into the mirror. Robes, check. Cap, check.

He looked ridiculous in this get-up, but everyone was going to look ridiculous so that was okay. The scarlet trim was nice though.

"You ready, Tyrone?"

"Almost," Tyrone said, from where he was rooting through the kitchen. "Just need a light snack - hey, where are those Nutty Bars you bought yesterday? Your snack drawer is still empty. You can't have eaten them all already."

Thomas couldn't help the satisfied smile spreading over his face. "Oh, right. I finally thought of a loophole." He pulled a box from underneath the kitchen cabinet. "This is the snack _box_. It's not a snack _drawer_. So please don't eat it all, this is my stash."

"That works," Tyrone said. He laughed. "Took you long enough!"

"Yeah, yeah. Want one?" Thomas offered. "Only **_one_** , okay?"

"I have taught you well," his demon friend said, and took the offered Nutty Bar. "Want me to tesser us over to the building? I don't fancy walking around in this rain."

Luckily the graduation ceremony would take place inside, in the big auditorium Hicks used for public summoning demonstrations. It was going to be a small affair, only meant for the Demonology and Cryptozoology departments. The university president would say a few words and probably leave soon after, because he had three other graduation ceremonies today. The cryptozoology graduates got to go first. Then Hicks would call out the names of all the demonology graduates, they'd go on stage to collect their certificate - not their actual diploma, they'd get that through the mail in a month or two - and if Adams and Tyrone kept their speeches short the whole thing would hopefully be over in an hour and they could enjoy the drinks that were promised afterwards.

"No need to walk," Thomas said. "My parents are picking us up, remember? They can arrive any minute now."

"Oh, right," Tyrone said. He crumpled the empty candy wrapper and dropped it in the trashcan.

Thomas hesitated. To ask or not to ask? "So... Do you have any family showing up today?"

"Yeah, I do," Tyrone said, brightening up.

"That's nice," Thomas said. "Er. Demons?"

"Nope. Vampire, actually."

"Right," Thomas said. "I look forward to meeting them. Er, about my parents... You're going to act normal around them, right?"

"Of course."

"No weird questions? Because last time you asked my dad if he had any exceptionally fond feelings about bread. He's already wondering what kind of lunatics I hang out with, let's not make it any worse."

Tyrone laughed. "How was I supposed to know he owns a bakery? Man, some things never change."

"I still don't get what is so funny about that."

"I could tell you, in exchange for unrestricted access to the snack box?"

"How about _no_." Nice try, Tyrone. "Anyway, before my parents get here - I wanted to ask something. Uh. What are your plans? I mean, for the future?"

Tyrone shrugged. "I don't really have any. Why do you ask?"

"Well... Hicks offered me a spot in his research team. As a doctorate student."

Tyrone gently punched his shoulder. "Congratulations! Are you going to accept?"

"I'd like to," Thomas admitted, awkwardly rubbing his arm. "Not sure why he offered me instead of you, since your marks are way higher and all. But anyway, I could ask Hicks if there's a second spot available?"

"That _would_ be amusing, but he said there was only one free spot," Tyrone said.

"Wait," Thomas said. "He talked to you too?" Realisation struck and Thomas groaned. "Of course. He offered you first."

"Yeah... kind of. But he did mention it was a close call, because really, you're not that far behind me in grades and that's pretty amazing if you think about it, considering who I am."

"Listen, Tyrone, I don't mind if you want to take the position," Thomas said. "It's okay. I wasn't really planning on obtaining a doctorate anyway, so I won't hold a grudge or anything."

"Nah," Tyrone said. "As fun as this has been, what would I do with a PhD? No, you should go for it. You earned this."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

"Okay," Thomas said. He took a deep breath. "Then I'm going to do it. I'm going to take the offer." He smiled at his friend. "And hey, maybe I need a... research assistent. Someone who hangs around and gives sarcastic commentary when I think up something stupid. Unpaid, of course. Do you happen to know someone who'd like to take that job?"

Tyrone returned his smile. "I think I know a guy," he said.

* * *

 

He didn't know what he expected from Alcor the Dreambender's family, but this tiny little girl wasn't it. She looked to be about five or six, with dark skin and - fangs. Oh, right. Probably older than she looked.

"We already met," she said, her eyes dark and not entirely friendly. "The poker game?"

Thomas lowered his offered hand. "I remember," he said. "So you actually are Tyrone's niece?"

"Not by blood."

"You two should get along like a house on fire," Tyrone said brightly. "I'll get us some drinks before the ceremony starts - I'll be right back!"

"Get something for me too?" Lucy Ann said.

"Of course!"

With those words Tyrone disappeared in the crowd of mingling students and families and left Thomas alone with the vampire girl.

"So," Thomas said, trying to make conversation. "How long have you known Tyrone?"

"Long enough." Her arm moved fast as a snake and suddenly a tiny but deceptively strong finger poked his stomach. "Listen up, kid. I've been around long enough to know how this goes. 'Tyrone' is my friend and I hate to see him sad. It may seem all fun and games now, but you only know him as a human. He is a demon and sometimes he is going to act like it. I need to know if you're prepared to stand by him when that happens or if you'll chicken out and abandon him."

"Um -"

"Not to mention you're a demonologist," she went on, ignoring his stammering. "And I'm sure it would be quite the feather in your cap if you could be the first to effectively bind the infamous Dreambender. You might get the bad idea to weasel his true name out of him, or trick him in some other way."

"I wouldn't!"

"I know you wouldn't," the vampire said, flashing her fangs at him. "Because if you do, you might find yourself in a dark alley somewhere, with as much blood left in you as a pet rock. Understood?"

"Understood," Thomas said. Sheesh, protective much?

"Consider this your first and only warning," she said. "If you hurt him in any way..."

"I won't. He's my friend too, you know. Besides, he's the most powerful demon in existence," Thomas said. "I don't think I could, even if I wanted to."

"You'd be surprised," she said, darkly. "He's got no one else to look out for him so it's up to me." She patted his arm and softened her voice. "Just remember my warning, will you? And we'll get along fine. You seem like a decent guy." A smile, without showing her fangs this time. That was slightly reassuring. "So, why don't you tell me something about yourself."

"What, like my weaknesses?" Thomas said, only half joking. She was pretty intense, wasn't she?

"If you like. You already know mine."

Right. Vampire. He awkwardly fiddled with the trim of his sleeve. "Ha, yes... So, how about that weather, huh?"

Tyrone returned, balancing three glasses of orange juice. One of them was more reddish in colour than the others and Thomas found it best not to ask too many questions.

Lucy Ann was all smiles again. "Thank you. Isn't it about time for the ceremony to start?"

"Yes, we should really go to our seats now. I'll see you when it's over. Come on Thomas, we're supposed to be in the front row."

Thomas let himself be dragged to their seats, where Eddy and the others were already waiting.

"So, how do you like Lucy Ann?" Tyrone asked. "She's nice, isn't she?"

Thomas looked at his hopeful smile and said: "Yes. She's very nice. You're lucky to have a friend like her."

Tyrone beamed. "I know."

* * *

 

 

Today was the day.

Elisabeth barely noticed her hands shake as Hicks called out their names and handed out the certificates. As one of the top of their class she was amongst the first on stage, of course.

Third. Out of ten, but honestly, third wasn't that bad. Evergreen didn't really count after all, and if she hadn't been focused on _saving_ Evergreen's dumb ass she would have beat Strange's grades _easily_ , for sure.

Why didn't Hicks hurry up already?

Finally - finally! - it was time for her to speak.

Elisabeth stepped forward, to the lectern.

This was it.

She was soaring.

"The floor is yours, Miss Adams," Hicks said, probably wondering why she was taking so long to speak.

Elisabeth's eyes traced the lectern, the wooden floor underneath. The little knots and edges only she could see, for now.

She took a deep breath and leaned towards the microphone. "Good afternoon. I would like to ask everyone to pay very close attention. I actually have only one thing to say."

She fixed her eyes on Evergreen. Her hand slipped inside the pocket of her robe, finding the knife there. "I don't have to tell them when I can **_show_** **_them_**."

In one smooth move she pushed her bleeding hand to the activation sigil she'd spend all of last night secretly carving on this stage. The invisibility spell crashed when the rest of the circle was activated, and Evergreen's 'oh-shit' expression was a balm to her soul as he was ripped out of the physical realm with a loud thundering sound.

It would't work for long. She was good, but this wasn't just any two-bit demon she had tried to exorcise. She had only managed to seperate him from his physical shape for a moment - he would be back soon. But please, let it be enough. Let people see the truth.

Everyone stared.

The audience clearly had no idea what was happening. But her fellow graduates, Hicks, the other teachers - they were on the stage, they could see the symbols clearly, _they_ **_had_** _to understand now_ -

Strange was the first to react, from his spot behind her. "What the hell are you playing at, Adams?"

"Did you just _banish Evergreen?_ " Hicks said.

"No, I banished _Alcor_ ," Elisabeth said, her heart pounding like mad. No demon magic kept her from talking - it had worked! "I was hoping Evergreen would remain behind. But I guess this isn't a case of possession after all." She grimaced. "I was supposed to _save_ him."

But her plan had worked! Even if Evergreen happened to  be not some poor possessed kid but just a front for the Dreambender himself. Maybe Alcor had stolen the real Evergreen's identity, who knew? The important thing was that she had banished Alcor, she had revealed the truth - she had **_won_** _!_

Evergreen popped back onto the stage, right behind the lectern. Elisabeth hurriedly moved aside.

"Ţ͊̈́͗ͯͥhͦ̌a̓̇̒̾n̴̂̃̇̀̚̚k̋͘ ͤy̍o̸̐ȗ for that wonderful demonstration of an exorcism, Miss Adams," he said, and the mutters of the audience became more worried than confused as they noticed his eyes, his ears, the wings sprouting from the small of his back. "Heh, **demon** stration. Quite."

The room went silent - frozen by fear and uncertainty - as Alcor the Dreambender fiddled with the microphone clip, until he gave up and glued it to his shirt collar with a dash of demon magic.

"That's better," he said, his soft voice amplified and reaching the very edges of the auditorium. "Tyrone Evergreen was supposed to speak to you today, but since Miss Adams insisted...  Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alcor the Dreambender. But don't worry, you all get to walk out of here unharmed - I͟ p͠r̷ómi̡s̀e." His smile was probably meant to be reassuring but it had way too many teeth for that. "The Science department has a reknowed scientist give a speech, welcoming the new graduates to the field. I'm here to do the same. After all, who better to welcome this fresh batch of demonologists than a demon?"

"This isn't _-_ " Elisabeth started to protest, but Hicks took her shoulder and pulled her back before she could _hit_ that infuriating demon where it _hurt_.

"Shut up," Hicks said, his voice very quiet but tense. He was pale and shaking. "Not _here_. Not in a room full of potential victims. Let him play his games."

Oh. She hadn't really considered the possible ramifications of outing Alcor in an auditorium filled with everyone's family and loved ones.

Oops.

Maybe she should have planned further than 'reveal Evergreen as Alcor's meat suit'. She had expected Hicks or another teacher to handle whatever happened next, but... that was a childish thought, wasn't it? Thinking everything would turn out alright if she left it up to the authority figures. Even if they did have more knowledge and experience. When it came down to it, what could they do against Alcor the Dreambender? Nothing. Nothing at all.

But she still won, damn it. She'd tricked the Dreambender. Only for a second but she was going to count this as a win anyway.

Alcor was apparently not in the mood for murderous rage. He seemed to be taking this speech thing seriously. He certainly had everyone's attention.

"I have come across my fair share of demonologists, both amateurs and professionals," the demon said. "And I have noticed when most people imagine a 'demon summoner', they think about this specific type of person, you know? Some enrobed man in a dark basement, someone greedy and evil. But those aren't the only kind of people who summon demons. I have been called for all sorts of things. To return a lost pet. To get better grades. To fix a failing business. Heh, one of my more recent deals was a guy who hated traffic lights and all the traffic lights he encounters from now on will miraculously turn green. Without disrupting the safe flow of traffic. He was very adamant about that."

He paused. The shadows in the room seemed to lengthen. "And even those innocent little deals can end very badly, if the summoner isn't careful. I get other requests too. Plenty of basements, if you know what I mean." For a moment his eyes burned brighter and the darkness moved over his skin, spreading the void. For a moment Elisabeth was certain _this was it_ , he would go all-out demonic and this might not have been such a clever idea after all...

The moment passed. The void receded. "But let's not talk about that. What I'm trying to say is, most summoners are just people trying to get a shortcut to their happiness. And the thing about shortcuts is, you miss out on overything you would have come across had you taken the long way around. Experiences you'll never have, friends you'll never meet."

He turned to Elisabeth, to the other students behind her, and shot them a smile that was oddly warm and proud and altogether too strange to belong to a demon. "So that is my advice to you. Don't put all your trust in shortcuts. Don't expect demon deals to solve all your problems. But when you're in a hurry, so to speak - when you absolutely _cannot afford to fail_ \- then hey, take that shortcut. Make that deal. And re̢m̡e̛m͟b͜er t͞he ͝pr͜i̕ce." He laughed. "Because I'm probably the nicest demon around and even I will twist the deal firmly in my favour, if given half the chance. So... That's all I had to say. Be responsible, have fun, good luck and hey, g͏iv͜ę m̴é ͝a ̶ca͢ll ͟if y͔̦͚ou̟͓ n͙̙ee̻̣͉d͡ ̪͓̗̭̻m̞̝̫̤̝͓̕e̺!"

"Yes," Hicks said, still pale as death. "Well said... Alcor. This concludes our ceremony, you are all invited to the reception which will take place in the entrance hall. My collegues will show you the way. Please leave. Right now."

"See ya!" Alcor said, and disappeared in a poof of golden glitter.

Little colourful tubes of plastic started raining down from the ceiling, each of them making an unholy noise that was barely recognisable as some kind of tune.

Dewitt cheered.

Their audience was quick to leave the auditorium, trying to avoid the falling toys as they dropped to the ground. Hicks spoke to the other teachers, who seemed just as shaken up as he was, and got them to herd all those people to the reception room.

"You stay," Hicks said, when Noguerra moved to follow his relatives outside. "You _all_ stay. I want answers and no one is leaving until I get them."

Elisabeth waved at her mother. Just go already! Everything was fine. Alcor was gone without killing anyone and they all knew the truth now. This was a perfect start of her career!

As soon as the last member of their audience was gone, it stopped raining plastic and the music cut off.

Hicks turned to Elisabeth. "What were you thinking? This was insanely reckless!"

"But it worked!"

"That is _not_ the point! You could have approached me before or after class, you didn't need to make this dramatic reveal! What if your circle had only enraged the demon? Think of the carnage!"

"I _tried_ to tell you!" she protested. "So many times! But that stupid deal meant I couldn't talk to anyone who wasn't already in the know and you kept forgetting!" Wait. "Why aren't you forgetting this? He usually takes your memories as soon as I tell you." Maybe her reveal had even bigger consequences than expected, and she'd broken Hicks's restrictions too!

"What do you mean, my memories - **Oh**."

"Yeah... I guess it's time to come clean," Evergreen's voice said. He faded into visibility in the corner of the stage, looking completely ordinary if you ignored the fact he was floating. "This has been fun though. Really fun."

"Alcor," Hicks said. "You're Alcor. I remember now... Oh my god. I graded your essays." He seemed to shake himself and then his eyes glanced at the little red button behind the lectern, visibly debating how much time he had to reach it. One push and the entire campus would be evacuated.

"We knew," another voice said. It was Noguerra, and he went to stand next to Alcor with a stubborn expression on his face. "And we don't mind."

"Don't sound the alarm, professor," Strange said. "An alarm from this room, this department? They'd evacuate the entire city. That would only disrupt the other graduation ceremonies."

"Yeah," Dewitt said. "And for no reason. There's _absolutely no reason_ to sound the alarm."

"Oh, I don't know," Hallman said, taking a stand next to his friends, next to Alcor. "Adams looks ready to explode, that could be dangerous."

Dewitt elbowed him. "Good one, Brad."

Elisabeth crossed her arms in front of her. "You're a real riot," she said. This situation had rapidly spiralled out of her control. She had revealed Evergreen as Alcor. There was no possessed Evergreen to rescue, unfortunately. Now what?

The logical thing would be to push the button. To raise the alarm, get this place evacuated. That would be smart. Demons were dangerous, even if he seemed amiable right now. You could never know what a loose demon might do.

But...

She'd observed Evergreen closely these past months. And even if he was the real Alcor and not some possessed kid - she was pretty certain about one thing.

Ugh, _fine_.

"Don't push the alarm," she said, moving between Hicks and the lectern. She sighed at Hicks' incredulous look. "I know, it would be the smart thing to do. But listen. He's an ass but he won't risk harming his friends." She pulled a face. Demons with friends, it sounded stupid even as she said it. "Or _whatever_ hold he has on them. For all I know he's keeping them as snacks, whatever, the point is we are safe right now."

"We do have a deal, professor," Alcor said. "I'm letting you keep your memories now, but I'm still upholding my side. No student or employee of this university will be deliberately harmed by me, remember?"

"Technically we're graduates, not students any more," Elisabeth said. "Or alumni."

"Don't remind the demon of loopholes!" Carver said.

She had almost forgotten the other four members of their class were listening in, varying degrees of shock on their faces. (Amanda seemed more smug than shocked, actually. And did Brennan just hand her a twenty?)

"As if I'm not aware of each and every loophole already," Alcor said. "Dream on, Jimmy. But that's not the point. I guess you'll just have to trust me."

Elisabeth looked at him, a deceptively human figure flanked by four friends. She looked at Hicks, who seemed at a loss of what to say or do.

She had already given in to their madness. Might as well go all the way. "Is _anyone_ going to push this button?" she said. "Because if not, my mother is waiting outside and I'd like to wrap this up."

"It could be worse," Callide said. "Alcor isn't too bad. Compared to some other demons. I will not sound the alarm."

"That's why you appeared as a star when I summoned you!" Carver exclaimed. "I thought it was weird, but that's so I wouldn't recognize you!"

"I can shapeshift into other things, but sure, that was the easy disguise."

"I still think that star shape looks like a toy," Hallman said. "No offence, dude."

"Wait a minute," Hick said, alarmed. "How many of you have been summoning Alcor - or _any_ other demon - outside of class?" He looked at the raised hands with dismay and shock. "Ha! Maybe I should ask who **_hasn't_** been summoning demons!"

All hands went down. One other went up.

Hicks looked at Alcor, the only one with his hand in the air.

"That's it," he said curtly. "I need a bloody drink."

"So... can we go now?" Noguerra asked, gesturing towards Alcor. "All of us?"

"Yes," Hicks said. "I'm releasing you into the wild." He seemed to hesitate for a moment, just looking at them. This fresh little batch of demonologists, already taking risks.

His voice softened. "Good luck."

* * *

 

The route from the auditorium to the hall where the reception was held wasn't that long, but they weren't in a hurry. The future could wait a minute.

"This went pretty well," Eduardo said. "All things considered."

"Yeah, you probably convinced most of them that this was planned," Brad agreed.

To be honest, Thomas wasn't so certain about that. But hey - it was too late anyway.

Tyrone glanced at him. "Think your parents will buy it?"

Thomas groaned. His parents... They'd met Tyrone. They would know something was up and they'd probably want the whole story.

Not looking forward to that.

"I'm guessing that's a no," Maria said. "Boy, am I glad mine are so gullible."

"We're still going out for dinner later, right?" Eduardo asked. "I made reservations and everything. A little class outing."

"I wonder who else will show up," Brad said. "Some people get so paranoid about dinner with a demon."

"I'm more worried about this reception," Thomas said. "Better be careful, Tyrone. We didn't fool the other teachers and Hicks might be willing to turn a blind eye, but any of the others could panic when they see you."

"I'll figure something out," Tyrone said. He smiled. "You don't have to worry. I've got this covered."

"We'll always worry, you idiot," Maria said. "That's part of being friends."

"Aww -"

"Don't go all mushy on me now."

"Demons don't get mushy."

"I saw you cry during Toy Tales Three, you liar."

"The part where the toys go into the incinerator?" Eduardo said. "Dude, you'd have to be a complete monster not to cry."

"Thanks Eddy."

"Head's up," Brad said. "Adams coming through!"

Thomas turned to look. Wow. Someone's metaphorical feathers were ruffled.

"Hey Adams," Tyrone called out, as she walked past them. "Thank you."

"Yeah, thank you for helping us out of the mess you got us into," Brad added. "You're a real peach."

"Shut up, Hallman," Adams said. She stopped. Hesitated. Started walking - and stopped again, to point an accusing finger at Tyrone. "You totally played me!"

"Yep."

"I thought you were possessed and you knew it! You knew I just wanted to save you and there wasn't anything to save!"

"Yeah.... Sorry about that."

"But I did trick you!" she said, and her smile was smug and happy and victorious. "You weren't expecting that exorcism, were you?"

"No, I got to admit I didn't. That was one fancy circle, Adams. I'm genuinely impressed."

She seemed taken back by the honesty in his voice. "Oh," she said. "Well. I won."

"You sure did," Thomas said. "Hey, why don't you come with us for a moment? You should really meet Tyrone's niece."

"Alcor has a niece?"

Was that evil of him? Nah. Lucy Ann was protective, but she wouldn't bodily harm someone during a busy reception, right?

Besides, he'd spend four years hanging around with a literal demon. A little bit was bound to have rubbed off.

* * *

_Some time later..._

 

She was so excited. But so terrified! But also so _excited_!

They'd only been taking demonology since september and they already had a big assignment due! A real, full-sized summoning circle. It was going to be hell to draw but she was going to do it _perfectly_. She'd practised until her hands were a mess of ink and papercuts. That's dedication!

"I have a little surprise for you all," their demonology teacher said, when they'd all taken a seat. "I warned you that your summoning circles would be assessed by a jury. Of course I will be on that jury, but there is going to be one other member." He gestured to her. "Miss Harris? You're up first."

She rose from her seat, clutching her notes. "Sir? Aren't we waiting for the other jury member?"

Their teacher smiled. "You're going to summon him."

"Wait, did he really say that?"

"He's kidding, we're not really going to -"

"But what if he isn't?"

"Is this even safe?"

As the class burst into worried mutters, Kate met professor Strange's eyes and knew three things:

One: their professor was having fun.

Two: he wasn't kidding.

And three: these classes were definitely _not_ going to be _boring_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some shout-outs to Lady_Phenyx's Demon of Sweets (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2709113/chapters/14518321) and Demons and Sleepovers (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2709113/chapters/15428308). The Nose Beast (He Nose All!) is from the TAU blog (http://transcendence-au.tumblr.com/post/144886616363/randumbdaze-its-canon-and-you-cant-stop-me).  
> Lucy Ann is of course orginally from seiya234 (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2599724/chapters/5790359).
> 
> The plot bunnies are multiplying. That one-shot I talked about might have multiplied.


End file.
